In the spring of 1882, Dr. Arthur was invited to join the practice of one of his classmates in Plymouth, England. Dr. Arthur readily agreed and began seeing patients in the little room his former classmate had set up for him. Mostly, he dealt with cases that his former classmate did not want to handle. Within a couple of months, Dr. Arthur’s former classmate’s attitude inexplicably changed toward him. Finally, Dr. Arthur decided to leave the practice and to open his own practice in the town of Portsmouth with the little money he had saved up.
By the time he rented an apartment that doubled as a doctor’s office, which he furnished with what he referred to as not second-hand but tenth-hand furniture, Dr. Arthur was nearly broke. His only reserve consisted of the 10 gold pieces withheld for his upcoming rent. His doctor’s office was furnished with only a table for surgery and two stools. His trunk served as his dining table and his pantry. For months, he survived on bread, bacon, and tea, and on the rare occasion, a piece of sausage. From the beginning, he received only a few stray patients of the poorest class, most of whom owed money to other doctors. Like one of the doctors he apprenticed for, Dr. Arthur charged no fee for consultations, only for his medicines. At times, Dr. Arthur had to wait to mail a letter because he could not afford a stamp. After several months, Dr. Arthur had built up his practice, but money was still somewhat scarce. Some of his patients were tradespeople who, rather than paying in cash, paid with their trade. For example, Dr. Arthur treated one grocer who suffered from epileptic fits who paid him in butter and tea. Dr. Arthur’s practice was far from being financially successful.
Dr. Arthur was a voracious reader, mainly out of necessity. At the expense of a couple of meals, Dr. Arthur became a member of the local circulating library. While waiting for the occasional poor stray patient to come in need of his services, Dr. Arthur read a plethora of books. Beginning in medical school, Dr. Arthur wrote short stories for extra pocket money. Eventually, the work he did for extra pocket money outshone his work as a medical doctor. It is to our benefit that Dr. Arthur’s practice was not more successful. Had Dr. Arthur been content with his wages as a physician, we may never have heard of his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Arthur was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Source: Memories and Adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1924), p.57-69, https://www.gutenberg.org/