The Baker Street Irregulars
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The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley.<ref name="BSI Harvard">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As of 2015, the nonprofit organization had about 300 members worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The group has published The Baker Street Journal, an "irregular quarterly of Sherlockiana", since 1946.<ref name="BSI Harvard" /> Members of the society participate in "the game"<ref name="dirda">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which postulates that Holmes and Doctor Watson were real and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was merely Watson's "literary agent".<ref name="grann" />
History
The BSI was an outgrowth of Christopher Morley's informal group, "the Three Hours for Lunch Club," which discussed art and literature.<ref name="annotated">Template:Cite book</ref> The inaugural meeting of the BSI was held in 1934 at Christ Cella's restaurant in New York City.<ref name="bunson">Template:Cite book</ref> Initial attendees included William Gillette, Vincent Starrett, Alexander Woollcott, and Gene Tunney.<ref name="annotated"/> Morley kept meetings quite irregular, but after leadership passed to Edgar W. Smith, meetings became more regular.<ref name="annotated"/><ref name="tor">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In February 1934, Elmer Davis, a friend of Morley, wrote a constitution for the group explaining its purpose and stating that anyone who passed a certain test was eligible to join.<ref name="bostrom207">Template:Cite book</ref> This test, a crossword puzzle by Morley's younger brother Frank, was published in the May 1934 issue of Saturday Review of Literature.<ref name="bostrom207"/>
Edgar W. Smith led the BSI from 1940 until 1960, initially using the title "Buttons" and later "Buttons-cum-Commissionaire".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Wolff"/> Julian Wolff was the head of the BSI from late 1960 to 1986, and used the title "Commissionaire".<ref name="Wolff">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> From 1986 until 1997, Thomas L. Stix Jr. was the leader of the organization, and used the title "Wiggins".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="1997 Dinner"/> The title "Wiggins" has since been used for the leadership position.<ref name="1997 Dinner"/><ref name="2020 Report"/>
The organization long resisted admitting women, a policy which spawned a female-centered organization, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes,<ref name="tor"/> whose founders had picketed an all-male BSI gathering.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The BSI invested its first woman in 1991:<ref name="annotated"/> Dame Jean Conan Doyle.<ref name="bostrom429">Template:Cite book</ref> She was followed by Katherine McMahon, the first woman to solve the crossword puzzle.<ref name="bostrom429"/> McMahon was followed by Edith Meiser,<ref name="bostrom429"/> who wrote numerous Holmesian radio scripts for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Leadership of the BSI passed to Michael Whelan in 1997<ref name="1997 Dinner">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Michael Kean in 2020.<ref name="2020 Report">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Membership
Membership is by invitation only<ref name="tor"/> based on criteria unknown to the public.<ref name="annotated"/> Members take on a name inspired by the canon<ref name="kings"/> with the head of the organization known as "Wiggins".<ref name="annotated"/> As of 2025, the organization has had a total of 760 members, whose names, years of investiture, and pseudonym are listed in the reference volume Sherlock Holmes and the Cryptic Clues.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Notable members
Among the members of the Baker Street Irregulars, past and present:
- Karen Anderson<ref name="list">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Poul Anderson<ref name="annotated"/>
- Curtis Armstrong<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Isaac Asimov<ref name="annotated"/>
- John Ball<ref name="list"/>
- William S. Baring-Gould<ref name="kings">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Terry Belanger<ref name="list"/>
- John Stevens Berry<ref name="list"/>
- Anthony Boucher<ref name="kings"/>
- Herbert Brean<ref name="list"/>
- Jan Burke<ref name="kings"/>
- Dana Cameron<ref name="list"/>
- Frank Cho<ref name="list"/>
- Bert Coules<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Frederic Dannay<ref name="list"/>
- Basil Davenport<ref name="list"/>
- David Stuart Davies<ref name="list"/>
- Elmer Davis<ref name="list"/>
- August Derleth<ref name="bsidinner1971">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Michael Dirda<ref name="dirda"/>
- The Marquess of Donegall<ref name="list"/>
- Dame Jean Conan Doyle<ref name="list"/>
- Stillman Drake<ref name="list"/>
- Ralph Earle, II<ref name="list"/>
- Lyndsay Faye<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Robert L. Fish<ref name="bsidinner1971"/>
- Neil Gaiman<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- John Gardner<ref name="list"/>
- Paul Gore-Booth<ref name="list"/>
- Richard Lancelyn Green<ref name="grann">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Michael Harrison<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Jeffrey Hatcher<ref name="list"/>
- Herman Herst Jr.<ref name="list"/>
- Ebbe Hoff<ref name="list"/>
- Banesh Hoffmann<ref name="list"/>
- Richard H. Hoffmann<ref name="list"/>
- Nancy Holder<ref name="list"/>
- Laurie R. King<ref name="kings"/>
- Leslie S. Klinger<ref name="list"/>
- Robert Keith Leavitt<ref name="list"/>
- Robert A. W. Lowndes<ref name="list"/>
- Ken Ludwig<ref name="list"/>
- Bonnie MacBird<ref name="list"/>
- Ronald Mansbridge<ref name="list"/>
- Thomas M. McDade<ref name="list"/>
- Edith Meiser<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Nicholas Meyer<ref name="list"/>
- Christopher Morley<ref name="list"/>
- Frank Morley<ref name="list"/>
- David F. Musto<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Lenore Glen Offord<ref name="list"/>
- Fulton Oursler<ref name="list"/>
- Will Oursler<ref name="list"/>
- Stuart Palmer<ref name="list"/>
- Otto Penzler<ref name="list"/>
- Svend Petersen<ref name="list"/>
- H. C. Potter<ref name="list"/>
- Fletcher Pratt<ref name="list"/>
- Michael J. Quigley<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- David A. Randall<ref name="list"/>
- Dana S. Richards<ref name="list"/>
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (honorary)<ref name="Mehegan"/>
- Albert M. Rosenblatt<ref name="list"/>
- S. J. Rozan<ref name="list"/>
- Peter A. Ruber<ref name="list"/>
- Richard B. Shull<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Red Smith<ref name="list"/>
- Vincent Starrett<ref name="annotated"/>
- Daniel Stashower<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Frederic Dorr Steele<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Chris Steinbrunner<ref name="list"/>
- Rex Stout<ref name="annotated"/>
- Eve Titus<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Harry Truman (honorary)<ref name="Mehegan">Template:Cite news</ref>
- Manly Wade Wellman<ref name="list"/>
- J. N. Williamson<ref name="list"/>
- Douglas Wilmer<ref name="list"/>
The Baker Street Journal
The group publishes a periodical, The Baker Street Journal. The original series of the BSJ was started in 1946, but it ceased in 1949.<ref name="annotated"/> In 1951, Edgar Smith began publishing it again as a quarterly; it has continued publication since that time.<ref name="annotated"/>
Scion societies
The BSI has spawned numerous "scion societies",<ref name="bunson"/> many of which are officially recognized by the BSI. The first was The Five Orange Pips of Westchester County, New York, in 1935.<ref name="annotated"/> Independent Sherlockian groups include the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, the U.K.’s Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and Canada's The Bootmakers of Toronto.