October 10, 1893

Charles Altamont Doyle (March 25, 1832 to October 10, 1893) was a 19th century artist. who came from a family of Irish artists. His son was A. Conan Doyle. of Sherlock Holmes fame, of course.

A.N. Devers has an interesting article, "The Father and Son That Believed in Faeries" from which we quote.   Dever's article; it centers on a book  which published he diaries of Doyle pere, diaries written while he was confined in mental institutions. The book is: The Doyle Diary: The Last Great Conan Doyle Mystery: With a Holmesian Investigation Into The Strange And Curious Case of Charles Altamont Doyle  (Michael Baker, 1978).

 

 

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A number of interesting questions are highlighted in the book:
Why have so many of Conan Doyle’s biographers only cursorily explored his father failing health? Was Charles Doyle really mad? What influence did his mental health have on Conan Doyle and on his work? To what extent did Charles actually believe in the faeries and elves he drew? And how did his beliefs influence Conan Doyle’s own belief in faeries, spiritualism, and the supernatural?....

....On one page he had drawn a rather terrifying portrait of himself in the mouth of an angry Sphinx, being devoured. Underneath he’s written: NOTE: WHEN I WAS DRAWING THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, EDINBURGH, I WAS A GOOD DEAL WORRIED BY SPHINXES. The drawing is titled, “HORRIBLE FATE OF THE ARTIST WORRIED BY A SPHINX. [below]

Among these disturbing images, there are also lovely, romantic Victorian drawings: a tracing of a Sycamore leaf, a pair of slim pixies riding in the antlers of a deer, watercolors of strolls and picnics through the grounds of Sunnyside, unicorns, angels, fair maidens and dandelion puffs.

...The diary hints at something else—at Charles’s belief in fairies. There is a drawing of a chestnut sprig with the caption: I HAVE SEEN A GREEN LAD JUST LIKE IT. And in another, a strange, devilish drawing of a cat woman. He has captioned her: IS THIS A GIRL OR A CAT? OR BOTH? Written underneath: I have known such a creature....

Most Arthur Conan Doyle fans know about his trouble with faeries. He was pilloried in the press for writing a book about his belief in the tiny creatures. Specifically, Doyle believed in the veracity of photographs of two young English girls from Cottingley posing with fairies and wood elves. The headline of one American magazine read “Poor Sherlock Holmes-Hopelessly Crazy: Conan Doyle, Who Has been Victimized by Transparent ‘Spirit’ Frauds, Now Offers Photographic Evidence That Fairies Really Exist Just Like the Story Books.” The irony of Doyle’s belief in the supernatural isn’t lost on any fan of Sherlock Holmes. How could the writer of the most famously perceptive, rational, and deductive literary character of all time be so blind, unreasonable, and impassioned about his belief in invisible creatures and other worlds?

Devers sees an act of reconciliation in the Conan Doyle's adopting his father's belief in fairies. That strikes me as unlikely. Not that I have more answers. The questions are interesting, and the cat references.