Mary Morstan

Mary Morstan is a fictional character, the wife of Dr. Watson, who is one of the main characters in the Sherlock Holmes canon. She is first introduced in "The Sign of Four", where she and Dr. Watson tentatively become attracted to each other, but only when the case is resolved is he able to propose to her. She is described as blond with pale skin. At the time she hires Holmes she had been making a living as a governess. Although at the end of the story the main treasure is lost, she has received 6 pearls and will probably receive 6 more pearls and a chaplet of the Agra Treasure. In Rodney Gibbons' The Sign of Four (2001), Mary Morstan rudely discards Dr. Watson and marries Thaddeus Sholto, thus destroying the doctor's future happiness.

Lineage

Mary Morstan's father, who is a senior captain of an Indian regiment and later stationed near the Andaman Islands, disappeared in 1878 in mysterious circumstances that would later be proved to be related to the mystery in "The Sign of Four". Her mother died soon after her birth and she had no other relative in England, although she was educated there (in accordance with the received wisdom of the time about children in the colony of India.) Watson and Mary marry about 1888.

Relationship

Although it was "love at first sight", Mary Morstan and Dr. Watson's marriage fluctuates somewhat. In The Adventure of the Crooked Man Watson goes off with Holmes to solve a locked room mystery the summer after his marriage. She is concerned enough about his health to send him to the country during "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", but when Mary Morstan dies (the circumstances of which are not related in the Sherlock Holmes canon), Watson moves back in with Holmes and makes no reference to the loss, though it is speculated by Baring-Gould that he married again, afterwards which raises questions as to how close they actually were, or whether Watson is being a stiff-lipped Victorian. It is probable that Mary Morstan died in the interim between "The Adventure of the Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House", given that in his farewell letter to Watson, Holmes asks his old friend to "give my regards to Mrs. Watson"; upon Holmes' return, Watson writes, "In some manner he had learned of my own sad bereavement"; and in "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", one of the most immediate adventures after Holmes' return, Watson has returned to the old quarters in Baker Street. Mary could simply have divorced Watson and that could've been what Watson was referring to.

See also