🎭 The cast of Baker Street
Sherlock Holmes Characters
The people (and one dog) of the canon — each with a full profile, their stories, and the tools they champion on this site. Several are on call as consultants inside the Deduction Board, by text or voice.
Sherlock Holmes
Consulting detective — the world's first and only
The consulting detective himself.
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Mycroft Holmes
Auditor of Whitehall — occasionally, he IS the British government
The smarter brother, rarely out of his chair.
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Dr. John Watson
Physician, chronicler, and the bravest man Holmes knows
Chronicler, physician, first reader.
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Professor Moriarty
Professor of mathematics; Napoleon of crime
The spider at the centre of the web.
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Inspector Lestrade
Inspector, Scotland Yard — tenacious as a bulldog, wrong as often
Scotland Yard's most persistent man.
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Irene Adler
Opera contralto, adventuress — always THE Woman
The Woman — the one who beat him.
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Mrs Hudson
Landlady of 221B Baker Street — long-suffering, lion-hearted
Landlady of 221B, patience of a saint.
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Colonel Moran
Colonel, late Indian Army — Moriarty's chief of staff
The second most dangerous man in London.
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Toby
Half spaniel, half lurcher — the finest nose in London
The bloodhound who never loses the scent.
Full profile →Full list of Sherlock Holmes characters
The canon's supporting cast — the clients, culprits, and allies from the sixty stories. Each name links to the story where they appear, summarised and analysed; the wider world of places and organisations lives in the Lore Codex.
Clients & victims
- The King of Bohemia — the royal client Irene Adler outwitted in A Scandal in Bohemia
- Jabez Wilson — the red-headed pawnbroker in The Red-Headed League
- Mary Sutherland — the typist whose fiancé vanished in A Case of Identity
- James McCarthy — the son accused of his father's murder in The Boscombe Valley Mystery
- John Openshaw — the young man sent five orange pips in The Five Orange Pips
- Neville St Clair — the gentleman who became a beggar in The Man with the Twisted Lip
- Henry Baker — owner of the hat and the goose in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
- Helen Stoner — the terrified stepdaughter in The Adventure of the Speckled Band
- Victor Hatherley — the engineer who lost his thumb in The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
- Lord Robert St Simon — the bachelor whose bride vanished in The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
- Alexander Holder — the banker and the broken coronet in The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
- Violet Hunter — the governess who asked why in The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
- Mary Morstan — client, then Mrs Watson in The Sign of the Four
- Colonel Ross — owner of the vanished favourite in Silver Blaze
- Grant Munro — the husband at Norbury in The Yellow Face
- Hall Pycroft — the clerk offered too good a job in The Stockbroker's Clerk
- Percy Phelps — the diplomat who lost a treaty in The Naval Treaty
- Mr Melas — the Greek interpreter in The Greek Interpreter
- Sir Henry Baskerville — heir to the Hall in The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Dr James Mortimer — keeper of the legend in The Hound of the Baskervilles
- John Hector McFarlane — the young solicitor framed for murder in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
- Hilton Cubitt — the squire haunted by dancing men in The Adventure of the Dancing Men
- Violet Smith — the solitary cyclist in The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
- Dr Thorneycroft Huxtable — headmaster of the Priory School in The Adventure of the Priory School
- Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope — the minister's wife with a secret in The Adventure of the Second Stain
- Lady Brackenstall — widow of the Abbey Grange in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
- Robert Ferguson — the father who feared a vampire in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
- Neil Gibson — the Gold King of Thor Bridge in The Problem of Thor Bridge
- Eugenia Ronder — the veiled lodger in The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
Culprits & adversaries
- Jefferson Hope — the avenger of the first novel in A Study in Scarlet
- Jonathan Small — the one-legged convict of the Agra treasure in The Sign of the Four
- John Clay — the fourth-smartest man in London in The Red-Headed League
- Dr Grimesby Roylott — the stepfather with a whistle in The Adventure of the Speckled Band
- James Ryder — the hotel attendant who stole the carbuncle in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
- Jephro Rucastle — master of the Copper Beeches in The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
- Jack Stapleton — the naturalist of the moor in The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Jonas Oldacre — the Norwood builder in The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
- Abe Slaney — author of the dancing men in The Adventure of the Dancing Men
- Charles Augustus Milverton — the king of blackmailers in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
- Captain Jack Croker — the killer Holmes acquitted in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
- Colonel Valentine Walter — the traitor of the submarine plans in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
- Culverton Smith — the planter with a poisoned box in The Adventure of the Dying Detective
- Count Negretto Sylvius — the gem thief in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
- Baron Adelbert Gruner — the Austrian seducer in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
- Isadora Klein — the widow who hired thugs in The Adventure of the Three Gables
- "Killer" Evans — the man behind the third Garrideb in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
- Josiah Amberley — the retired colourman in The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
- Von Bork — the Kaiser's spymaster in His Last Bow
Scotland Yard & the police
- Inspector Tobias Gregson — the smartest of the Yarders in A Study in Scarlet
- Inspector Athelney Jones — the bluff detective of the Agra case in The Sign of the Four
- Inspector Gregory — the man who missed the dog in the night in Silver Blaze
- Inspector Stanley Hopkins — Holmes's young disciple in The Adventure of Black Peter
- Inspector Alec MacDonald — the Scot of The Valley of Fear in The Valley of Fear
- Inspector Baynes — the provincial who impressed Holmes in The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
Allies & regulars
- Wiggins & the Baker Street Irregulars — eyes on every street in A Study in Scarlet
- Billy the page — the boy who guards 221B in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
- Fred Porlock — Moriarty's man who sent the cipher in The Valley of Fear
- Shinwell Johnson — informer in the underworld in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
- Kitty Winter — the woman Gruner wronged in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
- Langdale Pike — society gossip, human reference book in The Adventure of the Three Gables
- Reginald Musgrave — college friend with a family ritual in The Musgrave Ritual
- Victor Trevor — the first friend, the first case in The "Gloria Scott"
- Dr Leon Sterndale — the lion hunter of Cornwall in The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
Sherlock Holmes characters: common questions
Who are the main characters in Sherlock Holmes?
Sherlock Holmes, the consulting detective, and Dr John Watson, his friend and narrator, are at the centre of almost every story. Around them are Mrs Hudson, their landlady at 221B Baker Street; Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard; Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother; Professor James Moriarty, the "Napoleon of crime"; his right-hand man Colonel Sebastian Moran; and Irene Adler, the only woman to beat Holmes.
What is the name of Sherlock Holmes's housekeeper?
Mrs Hudson. Strictly she is the landlady of 221B Baker Street rather than a housekeeper, but she cooks, cleans, shows up the clients and puts up with Holmes. A page-boy called Billy appears in some later stories.
How tall is Sherlock Holmes?
Watson says in A Study in Scarlet that Holmes is rather over six feet tall, and so lean that he seems considerably taller. He has sharp, piercing eyes, a thin hawk-like nose and a square, prominent chin.
What are the names of Sherlock Holmes's parents?
Conan Doyle never names them. Holmes says only that his ancestors were country squires and that his grandmother was the sister of the French painter Vernet. The names you may have seen come from later writers: W. S. Baring-Gould called his father Siger, and Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books call his mother Eudoria.
Does Sherlock Holmes have a brother or a sister?
In Conan Doyle's stories he has one brother, Mycroft, seven years older and even sharper, who first appears in "The Greek Interpreter". Enola Holmes, the younger sister, was invented by Nancy Springer in 2006.
Who is Sherlock Holmes's greatest enemy?
Professor James Moriarty, the mathematician who runs much of London's organised crime. He appears in "The Final Problem", where he and Holmes go over the Reichenbach Falls together, and is behind the events of The Valley of Fear.