Charles Altamont Doyle

Charles Altamont Doyle (25 March 1832 – 10 October 1893) was an illustrator, watercolourist and civil servant. A member of an artistic family, he is remembered today primarily for being the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Family background Doyle was the son of artist John Doyle, the political cartoonist known as H.B., and Marianna Conan Doyle. Three of his older brothers in the family of seven children were artists: James William Edmund Doyle, Richard "Dickie" Doyle, and Henry Edward Doyle. The family was of Irish background but Doyle was born and raised in England. Similarly to his elder brother Richard, he had no formal training, apart from lessons in his father's studio. Life and career In 1849 he moved to Edinburgh, to take up a post at the Scottish Office of Works where he was employed as an assistant surveyor. On 31 July 1855, he married Mary Foley (1837–1920), his landlady's daughter. Together they became parents to several children (sources debate whether it was nine or ten), seven of whom survived childhood, including Arthur Conan Doyle, John Francis Innes Hay (known as Innes or Duff), and Jane Adelaide Rose (known as Ida).