The February Wrap-Up

Just like I did in January, I'm going to do an end of the month follow-up for February. (Yes, I know I'm late.) Once again we have chronologists who can't seem to pin down anything specific about dating some stories. This is the remainder of the chronological finds for last month.

By the numbers, ten different people haggled about eight different dates in six different years about four different stories. But, is there anything left over that didn't get mentioned? Well, I'm glad you asked.

We'll do this starting with the earliest vagary someone came up with.
1882 is where a lot of people landed when dating 'The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet' (BERY). Most came up with a date, but a few did not. For instance, Mike Ashley likes February of that year for BERY, but that's all we get. He doesn't give any dates at all. Meanwhile, H. W. Bell tries a little harder and says it was a Friday in that month and year. Conversely, Vincent Delay also says it's a Friday in the second month, but says it can be any one between 1882 and 1887.

1884 finds another sort-of dating from Craig Marinaro. He, too, says February for BERY, but narrows it down a bit further to between 1884 to 1887. Jean-Pierre Crauser puts 'The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton' (CHAS) in February or March of 1885. And Chris Miller half-heartedly believes BERY could be in 1886, but places a question mark behind it. (Looks like he wasn't completely convinced. Again.)

Skipping ahead to 1894 finds three Sherlockians (June Thomson, Gavin Brend, Martin Dakin) who like February of that year for 'The Adventure of the Empty House' (EMPT). And one year after that Mr. Crauser puts 'The Adventure of the Red Circle' (REDC) in January or February of 1895. Crauser also places 'The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter' (MISS) in February of 1896.

In February of 1897 we have two trios of chronologists who place two different tales in that month. Miller, Bell, and Delay all say MISS happened then, while Thomson, Dakin, and Ashley say REDC happened. T. S. Blakeney says MISS occurred in February of 1898, even though no one else agrees with him.

After all of these findings we have a lull of four years before anybody thinks anything else happens. Sticking with REDC brings us to John Hall and Henry Folsom. They both like mid-February of 1902 for that case, but don't get any more specific. Bradley & Sarjeant place REDC in the same time frame (kind of) and say it could've taken place between November of that year and March of the next.

A different story altogether pops up at the end here in 'The Adventure of the Three Gables' (3GAB). Vincent Delay likes anywhere between July 1902 and November 1904 for what most consider one of The Canon's worst tales, while Roger Butters places it anywhere from October 1902 to April 1903. (Again, some of these time spreads are mentioned ONLY because the month we're discussing falls in there somewhere. They aren't necessarily February cases, but they could be. What I will leave out again this month are the folks who place a story in a year or range of years and nothing else. Yes, February falls in that year, but just giving a year isn't enough effort for me and therefore doesn't get any space here.)

See you at the end of March (or the beginning of April. You know how I am.) Thanks for reading.