The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
Encyclopedia
"The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes
short stories written by British
author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
. It is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes
and was published in 1904.
's timeline of the Sherlock Holmes canon, the events of Milverton occurred in 1899. This was nine years after the strange death of Charles Augustus Howell
, the real-life inspiration for the character of Milverton (see below).
Holmes is hired by the débutante
Lady Eva Blackwell to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmail
er: Milverton, who causes Holmes more revulsion than any of the 50-odd murderers in his career. Milverton is "the king of blackmailers" and he makes his living out of blackmail. He demands £7,000 (about $700,000 in 2010) for the letters, which would cause a scandal that would break off Lady Eva's engagement. Holmes offers £2,000, all Lady Eva can pay, but Milverton insists on £7,000. It is worth £2,000 to him to make an example of Lady Eva. Holmes resolves to recover the letters by whatever means necessary, as Milverton has placed himself outside the bounds of morality.
Holmes visits Milverton's Hampstead
house, disguised as a plumber
, in order to learn the plan of the house and Milverton's daily routine. He cultivates the acquaintance of Milverton's housemaid and even becomes engaged to marry her. This rather shocks Watson, but Holmes assures him that he has a hated rival who will step in when the plumber disappears. Holmes has learned where Milverton keeps his blackmail papers (a safe in his study), and plans to burgle
Milverton's house that night. Watson comes along.
They break into the study, and Holmes opens the safe. But just then Milverton, who should be in bed asleep, enters the study. Holmes and Watson hide behind a curtain, while Milverton has a midnight meeting with a supposed maidservant offering to sell letters that would compromise her mistress.
The woman is actually one of Milverton's former victims, whose broken-hearted husband died when she wouldn't pay Milverton and he revealed her secret. Now she avenges her husband by shooting Milverton to death, then stamps on his face.
Watson instinctively begins to rush out and stop the shooting, but Holmes restrains him. Holmes understands, and Watson instantly realizes, "that it was no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a villain..." The woman runs away, and Milverton's household is roused by the shots. But Holmes takes the time to dump all of Milverton's blackmail papers on the fire in the fireplace, despite the risk of being discovered and caught.
Then Holmes and Watson escape through the garden and over the wall. Watson has to kick himself free from a pursuer who has grabbed his leg.
The next morning, Inspector Lestrade
calls at Baker Street to ask for Holmes' help in investigating Milverton's murder, which he ascribes to the two burglars seen escaping over the garden wall. He has a description of one of them: "a middle-aged, strongly built man-square jaw, thick neck, moustache..." Holmes calls that vague. "Why, it might be a description of Watson!" he says, which amuses Lestrade. But Holmes refuses Lestrade's request: "my sympathies are with the criminals, and I will not handle the case."
Later, Holmes recognizes the face of the woman who killed Milverton. He shows Watson her photograph displayed in a shop-window among those of other celebrities. Watson recognizes the name of her famous husband, but Holmes signals silence with a finger to his lips.
with Douglas Wilmer
as Holmes, and Barry Jones
as Milverton. The only difference from the story is the identity of Milverton's killer.
The Soviet
TV series featured the case under the name "The King of Blackmail". It was the first of the three episodes concerning Professor Moriarty
. Apparently, Milverton was a member of the gang, since certain papers were recovered from his office which helped implicate the Professor. Also, the lady who killed him, as well as her husband, are given names in the series, and Holmes approaches the lady to obtain the papers which she took with her. Otherwise, it is quite faithful to the original.
The story was much extrapolated when adapted by screenwriter Jeremy Paul for the long-running Granada television series starring Jeremy Brett
as Holmes. It became the 1992 feature-length episode The Master Blackmailer and featured Robert Hardy
as the eponymous reptilian Milverton. Holmes's relationship with the maid is expanded upon, allowing Brett to suggest Holmes' buried tenderness and inability/unwillingness to indulge in matters of the heart. The violence of the villain's end, including the grisly grinding of the avenger's heel into Milverton's bespectacled face, is faithfully adapted, but Holmes and Watson do not at the end gaze upon Milverton's killer's portrait, as the murderess is identified. Deviating from the original story, Holmes holds a very different opinion about the case's end. He requests Watson not to chronicle the case, deeming it to have unpleasant circumstances, whereas in the original story he's slightly more cheerful, as shown by his joking to Lestrade.
. He was an art dealer who preyed upon an unknown number of people, including the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti
.
Doyle's literary inspiration often came from his natural interest in crime, and he had no tolerance for predators. Howell died in 1890 under circumstances as strange as any of Doyle's novels: His body was found near a Chelsea
public house
with his throat posthumously slit, with a ten-shilling coin in his mouth. The presence of the coin was known to be a criticism of those guilty of slander.
Another humorous exchange is when Holmes announces his intent to burgle Milverton's house, and Watson insists on accompanying Holmes over his protests. Holmes remarks that they have shared the same room, and could end up sharing a prison cell. He proudly displays his "first-class, up-to-date burgling kit". Watson has rubber
-soled tennis
shoes, and can make a couple of masks out of black silk. Holmes then observes, "I can see you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing."
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
short stories written by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
. It is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle.-History:...
and was published in 1904.
Timeline
According to William S. Baring-GouldWilliam S. Baring-Gould
William Stuart Baring-Gould was a noted Sherlock Holmes scholar, best known as the author of the influential 1962 fictional biography, Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A life of the world's first consulting detective.-Biography:...
's timeline of the Sherlock Holmes canon, the events of Milverton occurred in 1899. This was nine years after the strange death of Charles Augustus Howell
Charles Augustus Howell
Charles Augustus Howell was an art dealer and alleged blackmailer who is best known for persuading the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti to dig up the poems he buried with his wife Elizabeth Siddal...
, the real-life inspiration for the character of Milverton (see below).
Plot summary
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
Lady Eva Blackwell to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
er: Milverton, who causes Holmes more revulsion than any of the 50-odd murderers in his career. Milverton is "the king of blackmailers" and he makes his living out of blackmail. He demands £7,000 (about $700,000 in 2010) for the letters, which would cause a scandal that would break off Lady Eva's engagement. Holmes offers £2,000, all Lady Eva can pay, but Milverton insists on £7,000. It is worth £2,000 to him to make an example of Lady Eva. Holmes resolves to recover the letters by whatever means necessary, as Milverton has placed himself outside the bounds of morality.
Holmes visits Milverton's Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
house, disguised as a plumber
Plumber
A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable water, sewage, and drainage in plumbing systems. The term dates from ancient times, and is related to the Latin word for lead, "plumbum." A person engaged in fixing metaphorical "leaks" may also be...
, in order to learn the plan of the house and Milverton's daily routine. He cultivates the acquaintance of Milverton's housemaid and even becomes engaged to marry her. This rather shocks Watson, but Holmes assures him that he has a hated rival who will step in when the plumber disappears. Holmes has learned where Milverton keeps his blackmail papers (a safe in his study), and plans to burgle
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
Milverton's house that night. Watson comes along.
They break into the study, and Holmes opens the safe. But just then Milverton, who should be in bed asleep, enters the study. Holmes and Watson hide behind a curtain, while Milverton has a midnight meeting with a supposed maidservant offering to sell letters that would compromise her mistress.
Watson instinctively begins to rush out and stop the shooting, but Holmes restrains him. Holmes understands, and Watson instantly realizes, "that it was no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a villain..." The woman runs away, and Milverton's household is roused by the shots. But Holmes takes the time to dump all of Milverton's blackmail papers on the fire in the fireplace, despite the risk of being discovered and caught.
Then Holmes and Watson escape through the garden and over the wall. Watson has to kick himself free from a pursuer who has grabbed his leg.
The next morning, Inspector Lestrade
Inspector Lestrade
Inspector G. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade....
calls at Baker Street to ask for Holmes' help in investigating Milverton's murder, which he ascribes to the two burglars seen escaping over the garden wall. He has a description of one of them: "a middle-aged, strongly built man-square jaw, thick neck, moustache..." Holmes calls that vague. "Why, it might be a description of Watson!" he says, which amuses Lestrade. But Holmes refuses Lestrade's request: "my sympathies are with the criminals, and I will not handle the case."
Later, Holmes recognizes the face of the woman who killed Milverton. He shows Watson her photograph displayed in a shop-window among those of other celebrities. Watson recognizes the name of her famous husband, but Holmes signals silence with a finger to his lips.
Dramatisations
The story was faithfully adapted in the 1965 BBC seriesSherlock Holmes (1965 TV series)
Sherlock Holmes was a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company BBC between 1965 and 1968.-Production:...
with Douglas Wilmer
Douglas Wilmer
-Early life:Wilmer was born in London and educated at King's School, Canterbury and Stonyhurst College. He trained at RADA but was called up to the Army in World War II. Posted to an antitank battery in the Royal West African Frontier Force, he was invalided out after he acquired tuberculosis. He...
as Holmes, and Barry Jones
Barry Jones (actor)
Barry Jones was an actor seen in British and American films, on American television and on the stage.-Biography:...
as Milverton. The only difference from the story is the identity of Milverton's killer.
The Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
TV series featured the case under the name "The King of Blackmail". It was the first of the three episodes concerning Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
. Apparently, Milverton was a member of the gang, since certain papers were recovered from his office which helped implicate the Professor. Also, the lady who killed him, as well as her husband, are given names in the series, and Holmes approaches the lady to obtain the papers which she took with her. Otherwise, it is quite faithful to the original.
The story was much extrapolated when adapted by screenwriter Jeremy Paul for the long-running Granada television series starring Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
as Holmes. It became the 1992 feature-length episode The Master Blackmailer and featured Robert Hardy
Robert Hardy
Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
as the eponymous reptilian Milverton. Holmes's relationship with the maid is expanded upon, allowing Brett to suggest Holmes' buried tenderness and inability/unwillingness to indulge in matters of the heart. The violence of the villain's end, including the grisly grinding of the avenger's heel into Milverton's bespectacled face, is faithfully adapted, but Holmes and Watson do not at the end gaze upon Milverton's killer's portrait, as the murderess is identified. Deviating from the original story, Holmes holds a very different opinion about the case's end. He requests Watson not to chronicle the case, deeming it to have unpleasant circumstances, whereas in the original story he's slightly more cheerful, as shown by his joking to Lestrade.
The real master blackmailer: Charles Augustus Howell
The character of Charles Augustus Milverton was based on a real blackmailer, Charles Augustus HowellCharles Augustus Howell
Charles Augustus Howell was an art dealer and alleged blackmailer who is best known for persuading the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti to dig up the poems he buried with his wife Elizabeth Siddal...
. He was an art dealer who preyed upon an unknown number of people, including the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
.
Doyle's literary inspiration often came from his natural interest in crime, and he had no tolerance for predators. Howell died in 1890 under circumstances as strange as any of Doyle's novels: His body was found near a Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
with his throat posthumously slit, with a ten-shilling coin in his mouth. The presence of the coin was known to be a criticism of those guilty of slander.
Doyle's sense of humor
The story contains a good example of Doyle's sense of humor. For instance, Holmes baits Lestrade with the seemingly absurd suggestion that his description of one burglar could apply to Watson - when in fact it is a description of Watson.Another humorous exchange is when Holmes announces his intent to burgle Milverton's house, and Watson insists on accompanying Holmes over his protests. Holmes remarks that they have shared the same room, and could end up sharing a prison cell. He proudly displays his "first-class, up-to-date burgling kit". Watson has rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
-soled tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
shoes, and can make a couple of masks out of black silk. Holmes then observes, "I can see you have a strong natural turn for this sort of thing."
Literary inspirations
- In Donald ThomasDonald ThomasDonald Serrell Thomas is an English author of Victorian-era historical, crime and detective fiction, as well as books on factual crime and criminals, in particular several academic books on the history of crime in London...
's collection of short stories, "The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes", Watson "admits" that Milverton was, in fact, an alias used for the real Charles Augustus Howell. - The story also serves as the basis for Thomas's short story "The Execution of Sherlock Holmes", in which Milverton's brother (and several other relatives of Holmes's past adversaries) kidnap Holmes and stage a kangaroo courtKangaroo courtA kangaroo court is "a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted".The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or...
, putting Holmes "on trial" for the murder of Milverton.