mightymads | The Holborn Restaurant, where Stamford told Watson about Holmes

Reading now Holmes and Watson by June Thomson. This book contains some curious trivia and research, including the places associated with the Sleuth and the Doctor. One of those is the Holborn Restaurant, to which Watson invited Stamford to dine after meeting him at the Criterion Bar and where Stamford told Watson of a certain Holmes fellow who was searching someone to share rent with.

In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom. (STUD)

The Holborn Restaurant, Kingsway, London (source)

The King’s Hall, Holborn Restaurant (source)

A few excerpts about the meeting with Stamford:

On being invalided out of the army, he [Watson] had been awarded a pension of lis 6d a day (about 57 pence), which should have been enough to keep him in moderate comfort. It was, in fact, more than his officer’s pay of £200 a year. But he now had to find the money for food and accommodation and London could be costly, especially as Watson’s tastes ran to the more expensive places in which to drink. It is doubtful if, during his short army career, he had managed to save much. It was at this low point in his life that Watson’s luck began to turn.

Like the Criterion, the Holborn Restaurant was not cheap. Luncheon cost 3s 6d (about 33 pence) per person and presumably, as Watson had issued the invitation, he paid for Stamford as well. Wine was drunk with the meal and taking this into account, together with the hansom fare and a tip for the waiter, the total bill probably cost Watson more than a day’s pension […]

One has the impression that Watson was grateful for the opportunity to talk to someone, another measure of his loneliness.

Stamford must have been a qualified doctor at this date, having served as a dresser, like Watson, during his final year as a medical student. He would appear to have held the post as a house surgeon at St Bartholomew’s, a post Watson also held before leaving hospital service to join the army.

House surgeons usually served for a year only, six months as a junior, six as a senior. The post of house surgeon was a lowly one with long hours and poor pay.

So, our good Watson, as he himself admitted, lived well beyond his means, since he had rather expensive tastes—a Bohemian trait which he had in common with Holmes and which ultimately was one of the factors that contributed to their finding each other.