It's always a wonderful moment when you find a common connection between two (or more) of your passions. That happened to me not long ago, and it's something that I thought worthy enough to share. It deals with Holmes and Baker Street and all that, even though it may not actually be chronological. Still, it's very cool, so let's talk about it.
Mr. Corbett was actually born in London in 1832 under the name of Thomas Corbett. His middle initial can be found as either H. or P., but unfortunately I have never seen a consensus for which is right. I lean toward H. as it appears in some of the best-researched books I have on him. Even if it is H., though, we have no idea what it stood for, so the point is moot. His family moved to America in 1840 and settled in New York City. Without going into his life too much, know that he found his way to Boston, got saved, and changed his name to the city's name as a tribute to his faith.
His life takes a number of incredible turns, but what he's remembered for most is the shooting and killing of John Wilkes Booth - the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. After that incident his life was never the same, and in his bid for anonymity, he disappeared in 1882. I could spend my life tracking him down, and I'm making plans to do just that. But, we're not here to talk about him - we're here to talk about his father Bartholomew.
Bartholomew (of which there are no extant images) and his son Thomas (Boston) were both hatters, and we are all familiar with the term "mad hatter." It comes from the mercury fumes they worked with in the hat-making process, and it made people insane. Neither man escaped this, and both suffered from it the rest of their lives. While doing research about Boston, I stumbled across an article in the British Newspaper Archive which mentioned a man named Bartholomew Corbett, and discovered that it was talking about Boston's dad. Seems ol' Bart had moved back to London at some point, but continued to have severe brain problems until his death. Below is what I found.
I dug back into the papers at the time and found longer articles about the incident. Basically, in October of 1865, Mr. Corbett's landlady was concerned after not seeing him for some time. She called the Police, and they broke into his apartment and found him in a bad state of health and mind. He was transported to a local hospital, but was not expected to make it through the night.
Now, where this intersects with Sherlock Holmes is the location of Mr. Corbett's flat - 41, Chapel-street, Edgware-road, Marylebone. That address is less than half a mile from the believed location of 221b, but no matter where we place The Holy Flat, it's still about one half mile away. Mr. Corbett was taken to the St. Marylebone Workhouse Infirmary. This is mere blocks away from where Holmes and Watson would take up residence in 1881. The map here shows Chapel Street in the lower left corner with a line going to the Workhouse. The circled area is Upper Baker Street/York Place.
I realize, of course, that this doesn't have a true crossover to Our Heroes as it happened 15/16 years before they even met, but it still warms my heart to know that two of my interests converge like this. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything more about Bartholomew's time at the Infirmary or his death. It likely came quickly, and he was probably buried on the grounds, but that will take a lot more research (which I'm very willing to do).
If I were to try and titillate others who are in the Sherlockian hobby, I would point out that if you cross over Edgware Road from Chapel Street you'll find yourself on Praed Street. Solar Pons fans will feel a tingle in their brain from that one. (I would also like to remind them that I have Luther Norris's deerstalker. 😁 It's on me in the picture below - one which is rather old.)
The only way I can make this into a chronological post is to note that a lot of changes happened to the Workhouse and its grounds during the time Holmes and Watson were fighting bad guys. In 1888 a women's wing was built on the until-then all-male site, and many structural and design changes were made in the following decade. Holmes desired an exact knowledge of London and its environs, so he would have known about the changes, especially being so close to home. Dr. Watson would have kept up on medical practices and procedures for such an organization, and as the Workhouse Infirmary was written about in the Lancet numerous times, he would've read about it. This, however, is as good as it's going to get.
I have gathered a lot of information about the Corbett's and what became of them, but had to gloss over much of it here in the interest of space. Should you ever want to talk about them, Boston himself moreover, I am always willing to do so. Holmes is going to remain at the front of my chat line, but I love getting a chance to share things about my other passions. Soon I hope to have a new avenue in which to relate them to the world. So, I'm gonna go work on that.
I'll see you next time. I love it when you make it all the way to the end. Be well, stay safe, and as always...thanks for reading.
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