Herbert Greenhough Smith (1855 – 14 January 1935) was the first editor of The Strand Magazine which published many of 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...

's Sherlock Holmes

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...

 stories. His active support and encouragement to Conan Doyle, and the magazine's vigorous promotion of the Sherlock Holmes character, had much to do with the character's success.

Born in Stroud

Stroud

Stroud a town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England.Stroud may also refer to:*Stroud, New South Wales, Australia*Stroud, Ontario, Canada*Stroud , Gloucestershire, UK*Stroud...

 in 1855, the eldest of the eight children of Alfred Smith (1821-1896) and his wife Eleanor née Greenhough (1821-1896), Herbert was given his mother's maiden name as a middle name and subsequently used it as a double surname. He attended St. John's College

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 where he achieved a B.A., before working briefly as a private tutor. He "gave this up for journalism".

Herbert first married Beatrice Elizabeth B. Harrison in 1885, with whom he had one son, Cyril Herbert Greenhough Smith (1889-1924). Following Beatrice's death in 1897 at the age of 27, he married Dorothy Vernon Muddock

Dorothy Greenhough-Smith

Dorothy Greenhough-Smith was a British figure skater.She was the daughter of writer James Edward Preston Muddock, and married publisher/editor Herbert Greenhough Smith in 1900....

 (b. 1882), the daughter of James Edward Preston Muddock

J.E. Preston Muddock

James Edward Preston Muddock also known as "Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock" and "Dick Donovan" , was a prolific British journalist and author of mystery and horror fiction. For a time his detective stories were as popular as those of Arthur Conan Doyle...

 in 1900.

Smith began editing The Strand in 1891, retiring in 1930. He died on 14 January 1935.

Publications

He wrote the following articles in The Strand Magazine -

• Quixarvyn's Rival December 1891
• The Case of Roger Carboyne September 1892
• The Powder Mine December 1893
• Some Letters of Conan Doyle October 1930

He wrote the following books -

• The Chevalier Bayard
• A Court Duel
• Castle Sombras
• Odd Moments : Essays in Little
• Stranger than Fiction - Thrills of History
• The Romance of History
• What I Think - A Symposium on Books and Other Things by Famous Writers of Today (Editor)

Screen Portrayals

In the Sherlock Holmes spoof film Without a Clue

Without a Clue

Without a Clue is a 1988 British comedy film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley and Lysette Anthony.-Plot:...

 the character played by Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...

 called Norman Greenhough (who was publisher for the Holmes stories) was clearly based on Greenhough Smith.

He has also been portrayed on television, by Ralph Riach

Ralph Riach

Ralph Riach is a Scottish actor from Elgin, Moray. He is best known for his role as "John McIver" in BBC One Scotland's comedy/drama Hamish Macbeth. His career began at the age of 45, when he appeared in Lost Empires...

 in Murder Rooms, and by Allan Corduner

Allan Corduner

Allan Corduner is an English actor.-Early life:Corduner grew up in a secular Jewish home in North London with his mother, father and a younger brother. His mother had escaped to England from Nazi Germany with her family in 1938...

 in The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle.

External links

• Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes at the Internet Movie DataBase: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212903/
• http://www.fifeweb.net/dickdonovan/muddock.htm