White Rose Irregulars (of Mechanicsurg PA)

On February 22, 2025 I attended my first meeting of the White Rose Irregulars. 

This scion meets in Mechanicsburg, PA, a town adjacent to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. The scion was originally based in York PA, and a dated website shows that was the case as recently as 2015. The scion is led by Denny Dobry, and the agenda normally features lunch, a discussion and quiz on one of the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a presentation by a member or guest, and announcements of upcoming events.

Here is their magnificent scion pin ; a silhouette of Sherlock in deerstalker and pipe, set over a white rose. The name of the scion puzzled me... while there are certainly references to the rose in the canon, I couldn't find out where the scion name came from, so I checked in with Denny:

"The White Rose Regulars were founded in the late 1980's by Mrs. and Mrs. Kane. They had been members of the the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers (scion) in Pittsburgh.  When they moved to 'YORK' County, PA , they found that there was no Scion Society in the area.  They decided to start one. The next county over was 'LANCASTER'  County.  The Kanes being familiar with British history were immediately reminded of the wars between the House of Lancaster and the House of York which were fought for control of the British Crown. The wars became known as "The War of the Roses"  (1455 - 1487), since  the Lancaster family Badge was a "Red Rose"  and the York family Badge was a "White Rose". If the Kanes had  move to Lancaster County, our Scion would have been "The RED Rose Irregulars".

Brilliant. And so if anyone starts a scion in Lancaster County, PA, please name it the 'Red Rose Irregulars'.

And so I went to my first meeting Marzoni’s Italian restaurant in Mechanicsburg, PA. Denny Dobry led proceedings. Despite the serious look in this photograph, Denny's opening involves a series of outstanding jokes, and he then called for jokes from the floor. About thirty people were present and ready to contribute their own jokes! Here's a joke from one of the attendees:

“I found a dating site for people my age - it’s called carbon dating”

Watson would have loved the jokes. The story discussion for the day was “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax”. Prior to the discussion, Denny read out a series of REALLY DIFFICULT questions on minutiae in the story, and this was followed by general discussion. I was pleased with the Australian connection of course.

All this was happening while I shoveled food into my mouth.

Next up was the presentation, and this time it was Dana Richards, BSI, ASH. His presentation was titled 'The Fires of Fate: A Morality Play that is Bad Medicine'. The presentation was on Victorian medicine and the condition called 'posterior sclerosis' - a consequence of syphilus. Dana then discussed Doyle's own writings on sclerosis of various types and their mentions in Doyle's works of fiction, and finally reflected on Doyle's own medical thesis submitted to the University of Edinburgh.

If you wish you had seen the talk, fear not - Dana delivered a version of this talk as the 2023 Cameron Hollyer Memorial Lecture at the Toronto Public Library in 2023.

First, the lecture was published as a booklet by the Friends of the ACD Collection and can be purchased here. Second, the presentation in Toronto was recorded and the Youtube channel is shown above.

 

Last but not least, each member of the White Rose Irregulars receives a membership certificate! And so I was presented with mine by Denny. A very nice touch indeed - and another reason for Sherlockians out there to try and get to Mechanicsburg, or Harrisburg, or even York for a meeting some day!