SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AND THE CASE OF GEORGE EDALJI
On a crisp, cold morning in January 1907, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle caught an early morning train from London to Birmingham. Unnoticed by fellow commuters, the writer buried himself in the pages of a newspaper. At Birmingham he changed trains, travelling deeper into the heart of the Midlands. The creator of Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous detective, was on a mission. His final destination was the small mining village of Great Wyrley. Relieved to stretch his legs after the long journey, he walked briskly to St Mark’s Church and knocked on the door of the vicarage.
Reverend Shapurji Edalji and his wife, Charlotte, received Conan Doyle gratefully. Shapurji was a Parsee convert to Christianity, had arrived in Britain from Bombay and was the first vicar of Indian origin in Britain. His wife was English. Over breakfast, the weary vicar told Conan Doyle of the troubles that his family had endured over the last few years. The author was moved to hear their story. A few weeks ago, he had met their son, George, in a London hotel. Thirty-year-old George had been a successful solicitor in Birmingham until his life turned upside down.
In 1903, the village
