Thursday marks the anniversary of the death of Arthur Conan Doyle who was born in Edinburgh.

As the creator of Sherlock Holmes was born in 1859, the year after Bobby appeared in Greyfriars burial ground he may have seen the little dog as the family lived at 3 Sciennes Hill Place, Newington on the south side of the town not far from the church.

He certainly would have been familiar with the drinking fountain and Traill’s Temperance Coffee House as he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the late 1870s.

As the city’s streets were full of dangers for children at that time, they banded together and travelled in gangs for safety.

Although Arthur loved books he could handle himself in a fight.

Sherlock Holmes’s ‘Baker Street Irregulars’ may have been based on the children the author played with in the streets of Edinburgh when he was a child.

The illustration drawn from a sketch by his uncle shows Arthur at the age of five.