I have a new article in Anna Behrens' 'Monadnock Sherlockian Anthology 2026' (available for purchase at Amazon). The scion are based in Keane NH, and are named after the Monadnock mountain region where they meet.
By Matthew D. Hall
This is a sad story. It is the story of the younger sister of Arthur Conan Doyle’s first wife Louise (called ‘Touie’). Her name was Emily (called ‘Nem’) Hawkins. Emily had the same name as her mother, and she never married (a “spinster” of her day). Nem and her mother seemed to have stayed in the orbit of Arthur & Touie Conan Doyle, until that was no longer possible.
Emily “Nem” Hawkins 1854-1916
Following Arthur’s marriage to Touie in 1885, the Hawkins family seemed to have also spent a lot of time in Southsea. Emily even advertised looking for her own accommodation. The Hawkinses were temporarily renting an apartment there, when John became very ill. Touie’s brother John, Arthur’s patient, died and was buried there less than a year before the marriage so the family was still in mourning, and perhaps not ready to leave Southsea.
In the 1891 census, when Arthur & Touie were in Vienna, their 2-year-old daughter Mary could be found living with her grandmother Emily, and aunt Nem, back in Southsea. Photographs at Norwood show Emily with her daughter Nem, and once established at Undershaw, Emily and Nem were there too. Given Touie’s ill health from Tuberculosis, one can imagine Emily caring for her children or assisting with the child-care with Arthur constantly on the road, or with Touie seeking climates to improve her health.
In the 1901 census (collected on Sunday March 31), one might argue that evidence of fractures in the family were evident given Doyle’s infatuation and probable affair with Jean Leckie, while his wife suffered from terminal consumption. At Undershaw, neither Arthur nor Touie are home, and Touie’s sister Nem (aged 42) is instead in charge of Mary (12) and Kingsley (8). Where are their parents? Louisa was in the Devonshire resort town of Torquay staying at ‘The Bolton’ – perhaps for her health – accompanied not by Arthur but by her mother. For occupation, both stated they were ‘living on their own means’, which is slightly disconcerting. Where was Arthur? Not in London working, not abroad on a lecture tour either. He was staying with Jean Leckie and his own mother (Mary J. Doyle, ‘Mam’) at Ashdown Forest Hotel next to the Royal Ashdown West Golf Course. This census record effectively catches Arthur and Jean ‘in the act’ – despite the veneer of respectability provided by his mother being present as chaperone. ‘Life in Letters’ includes multiple letters around 1901 demonstrating Doyle scheming with his mother for ways to spend time with Jean without his family knowing. Golf was the perfect cover (insert joke here about the 19th hole).
It appears that Touie’s sister ‘Nem’ was part of the wider family at Undershaw, spending time as aunt with her nephew and niece, and with her sister and mother. Nem’s life then must have changed dramatically in a very short period of time between 1905 and 1906.
On Christmas Day 1905, Touie’s mother Emily died at Undershaw. She was buried at Reigate cemetery close to Undershaw. Her burial register indicated that she lived at ‘The Cottage’, Hindhead. Emily’s death left her unwell daughter Touie along with her sister Nem. Nine months later, the long-suffering Touie also died. Touie was not buried with her mother, instead she was buried at St. Luke’s Churchyard in nearby Grayshott. She would be joined in 1918 by her son Kingsley, in 1920 by Arthur’s mother Mary Foley Doyle, and in 1976 by her daughter Mary.
Suddenly, Nam was on her own. In less than a year she lost her sister and mother, and given that Doyle married Jean Leckie in 1907, she likely lost her welcome place in the Conan Doyle home also, which was now at Windlesham in Crowborough. Afterall, Jean Leckie was not welcoming to Touie’s children Kingsley and Mary, as indicated in their letters to each other, so Touie’s relatives likely would not be welcome either. Touie’s daughter Mary tried to keep in touch with her Aunt Nem, but did not have an address for her as she moved around a lot. Mary had referred to Nem’s trouble with a painful leg, which may have led to her first taking the drug for pain relief.
Nem’s life isn’t easy to trace, but was reconstructed in her death. In the 1911 census, Nem was staying along at the Jolly Farmer Hotel, Puttenham, Guildford, living on private means. Sadly, her next appearance describes her tragic demise, through articles such as this in the Woking News & Mail (24 Nov 1916):
Overdose of Chlorodyne. An inquest was held at Barnstaple on Thursday week, concerning the death of Miss Emily Hawkins (62), who for some months had been staying at a boarding house in that town, though her bankers it was stated, were the only people who had known of her whereabouts recently. On her registration form she had given Haslemere as her permanent home. After hearing the evidence, the jury returned a verdict of death from misadventure through taking an overdose of chlorodyne, self-administered.
What a heart-breaking story. Chlorodyne was a patent medicine that contained the opioid extract laudunum, (an alcoholic solution of opium), tincture cannabis, and chloroform (one of the first general anesthetics). It was highly addictive, and therefore prone to abuse. It is remarkable to think that this could be purchased ‘over the counter’ at a pharmacy, but there were the days of patent medicines with secret formulas, and aggressive marketing. Undoubtedly, anyone unwell who took chlorodyne likely felt improved given the mixture of active ingredients. Chlorodyne was not entirely banned in England, but strict drug legislation led to a change in its formula, making it less dangerous.
Newspaper articles in Devon and farther afield described the circumstances of Nem’s sad and lonely death, reporting on the inquest. At the time of her death, Emily had been boarding at Grenville House on Boutport street in Barnstaple (it still stands, at 9 Boutport street), where she had been staying about five months. Reports state that prior to that she had been staying in Exeter, Weston-super-Mare, and Winchester. In the middle of 1915, the family solicitor Mr. H-F Hannam-Clark had been called to Exeter, where he found Nem Hawkins addicted to chlorodyne, and he warned her of the danger. Since that time, friends were unable to learn where she was, and Doyle learnt she was in Barnstaple when he received a telegram from the coroner. No one knew she was in Barnstaple except for her bank.
At the inquest, Barnstaple chemist Mr. W.J. Shepperd stated that he sold a bottle of chlorodyne to Nem to treat indigestion. UK law required chemists to keep sales of certain items in a ‘poison book’ (often a plot element in golden age murder mysteries), and while chlorodyne sales did not require entry, Shepperd had Nem sign the book. When Shepperd learned that Nem was purchasing chlorodyne from other Barnstaple chemists, they all agreed not to sell her more, and Shepperd also informed the lodging-house keeper where Nem lived.
Nem Hawkins was stated to be clever and strong-willed. Mrs. Downing the lodging-house keeper at Grenville House stated that Nem was ‘a little eccentric’, unapproachable, and sometimes seemed ‘dreamy’. Downing had no idea that Nem had a substance dependency disorder until Mr. Shepperd the chemist approached her with his concerns. A few weeks prior to her death, Shepperd began finding bottles in her fireplace, but didn’t ask Nem about them. When Nem attended church, parishioners thought she was intoxicated by alcohol. About two weeks before she died, Nem was sobbing at home, declined help, and went to church. She had been to church again the night before she was found unconscious. Dr. H.C. Jonas who attended to Nem, found a bottle of chlorodyne in her night-gown, and another fifty-five empty bottles were in her room. Nem had died of opioid overdose.
As local chemists may have been refusing to sell chlorodyne to Nem, she had to look elsewhere – and it may be circumstances such as this that led Nem to move location from time to time. In Nem’s room, evidence was found that Nem was attempting to order chlorodyne by mail from a London chemist, but this was denied and the cheque had been returned.
Nem’s funeral was held in Barnstaple, with her boardinghouse keeper and solicitor being the principal mourners. Arthur Conan Doyle provided a floral tribute. Nearly all newspaper articles commented on the fact that Emily Hawkins was Conan Doyle’s sister-in-law. Arthur was supporting Nem (Doyle had inherited Hawkins funds), even if they were not in direct contact. A bank letter revealed that just a month prior to her death, Nem had received 40 pounds into her bank account from Doyle.
Headline in the Western Times, 16 November 1916.
Today, Nem’s life would likely have been saved by administration of naloxone when she was discovered, but no such interventions were available for opioid overdose one hundred years ago. Frustratingly, there are still few effective treatments available to treat addiction to opioids. As is evident from the articles though, chlorodyne overdose and addiction was scandalous enough to warrant reporting in newspapers across England. Sadly, over 50,000 Americans die each year of opioid overdose.
Many years earlier, Doyle himself had administered chlorodyne to patients – his diary on the S.S. Hope states “Haggie {Milne} bad again so I gave him some Chlorodyne”. As an opioid with painkiller effects, it no doubt alleviated maladies – there is still a role of opioids in pain management today. None of the articles reporting Nem’s death cast aspersions on Doyle. Doyle’s two children to Touie had probably been in Nem’s presence virtually their entire childhoods. Did they learn the sad truth, or was it glossed over? As a medical doctor in the public spotlight, there may have been an opportunity to highlight the dangers of access to chlorodyne. Doyle appears to have let the sad story rest, and as someone who cared deeply about his reputation, it is understandable.
Substance dependence leads to behaviors of avoidance, shame, and guilt, and the stigma of substance dependence continues today. It is stated at the inquest that Emily Hawkins had been taking chlorodyne ‘for some time’. Possibly adrift after her sister’s death in 1906, Touie’s younger sister died alone after years of dependence on chlorodyne. In Georgina Doyle’s biography of the Hawkins family Out of the Shadows, published in 2004, the author does include Emily’s death, and that the inquest report made for “sad reading.”
Probate for Nem’s estate was left to Conan Doyle.
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