"I object to row because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present." -- Watson (STUD).

Because the Doctor was our narrator, we know considerably less about him than we do about Holmes. But by this mere fact alone, we know him to be a modest chap. He was dependable and solid, as shown throughout the Canon. He was intellectually a smart man (as he was a doctor) and a practical one.

The Canon offers little in the way of a physical description of Watson, but it does mention he has a mustache (NAVA, CHAR, REDC).

Watson & Holmes

A Victorian Survey of men's heights in London gives an average for London men as 5.6". Because Watson had no extended family in London, he likely grew up outside of London. Since he grew up outside of London, Watson's family (and himself) would not have been to the adverse medical conditions in London which suppressed growth (and therefore height) of the average Victorian. (See Holmes' "Family" for more information on the survey and Victorian heights). Averages of British men before and after the Victorian London survey, give men's average height as about 5"8. In addition, any man much shorter than that would have seen the "rather over 6 feet" Holmes as somewhat of a giant. Since Watson never makes mention of Holmes' height again, we can be sure he, himself, was not too much shorter. Therefore, an estimate of 5"8 is probably not too far from the truth.

By his graduation date, scholars have estimated his birth year to be 1852 or thereabouts. Growing up, he played cricket in grade school (NAVA). Watson speaks French, which he probably took in school; and he knows a little Italian (FINA).

The good doctor became the able friend and companion of the world's foremost private detective, Sherlock Holmes. "He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them. As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable" (CREE).

When it comes to pastimes, the doctor was likely an occasional fisherman (for what non-fisherman would use allusions to a "lean-jawed pike"). Watson was also a likely golfer. His conversations with Holmes in GREE turn to golf clubs, and as Watson had more of the sportsman turn than Holmes, it was likely that Watson brought up the subject.

Watson was not known to be good with finances (see above). Not only did Holmes have to lock the doctor's cheque-book in his drawer (DANC) but he periodically had a "depleted bank account" (CARD). He did, however, have a small stipend from his service (and subsequent wound) in the Second Afghan War (see "Travel" for more information).

In SPEC, Watson implies that he gets up early and is "regular" in his habits, as befits a military man. But, as we have already seen in STUD, he says he is "lazy" and gets up at all hours. Later, in MUSG, he says he is "rather more lax than befits a medical man" and has a "natural Bohemianism of disposition." The later is likely more true than the former, for who would admit such a thing if it were not true?

Dr. Watson was also quite the ladies man. Unlike Holmes, who generally distained the fair sex, Dr. Watson wooed woman "over many nations and three separate continents" (SIGN). The doctor finally settled down (for the first time) in Spring, 1889. He returned to civil practice and bought a practice (from Dr. Farquhar) in the Paddington district (ENGI, STOC). His house had a garden wall, which was backed against Mortimer Street (FINA). See family for more information on subsequent marriages.

A final thought on John H. Watson - and perhaps a somewhat controversial one but just bear me out a moment - was Watson really a doctor? Don't phff and pshaw just yet, I promise, I do have a point. Of course, he was a practicing doctor, but was he really a M.D., a "Doctor of Medicine," or did he only have his Bachelor's of Medicine -- in Victorian England, an individual with his Bachelor's of Medicine could practice and would still be considered a doctor. Watson does say, "In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine." That seems clear enough. Also, his tin says "John H. Watson, MD" Yet, in the "Field Bazaar," published under the same name as every other attributed story about Sherlock Holmes. In it, Holmes contends that Watson does not have a Doctor of Medicine. He says, "This I gathered from the use of the word 'Doctor' upon the address, to which, as a Bachelor of Medicine, you have no legal claim." Perhaps this contention is why this particular story is not in wide circulation and perhaps it is also why the story is not generally accepted as part of the Canon. Perhaps our dear Dr. Watson was less than candid about his education in his more widely circulated stories. At any rate, there is a discrepancy about the point.