Bertram Fletcher Robinson - Writing & Editorial Career

Writing & Editorial Career

Bertram Fletcher Robinson held editorial positions with The Newtonian (1887–1889), The Granta (1893–1895), The Isthmian Library (1897–1901), Daily Express (July 1900-May 1904), Vanity Fair (British magazine) (May 1904-October 1906), The World, a journal for Men and Women (October 1906-January 1907), and the Gentleman's Magazine (January 1907).

Between 1893 and 1907, Robinson wrote or co-wrote at least nine satirical playlets (including four with his friend, PG Wodehouse), 54 short stories (including seven with his friend, Sir Malcolm Fraser, 1st Baronet), four lyrics, 44 articles (for 15 different periodicals), 128 newspaper reports, 24 poems and eight books. He also edited a further eight books about various sports and pastimes for The Isthmian Library (1897–1901).

In July 1900, Robinson and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, (Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle, 'cemented' their friendship while aboard a passenger ship that was traveling to Southampton from Cape Town. The following year, Robinson told Doyle legends of ghostly hounds, recounted the supernatural tale of Squire Richard Cabell III and showed him around grimly atmospheric Dartmoor. The pair had previously agreed to co-author a Devon-based story but in the end, their collaboration led only to Doyle's celebrated novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Robinson also contributed an idea to the plot of a Sherlock Holmes short-story entitled The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, which was first published in Collier's Weekly on 31 October 1903.

Doyle is sometimes seen as downplaying the importance of Robinson's contribution to The Hound of the Baskervilles. The literary scholar and critic, Professor William Wallace Robson wrote that it is 'impossible to determine' the precise extent of Robinson's role, but in all probability he merely acted as a 'creative trigger'. He adds that once the element of Sherlock Holmes was added to the original idea, the novel evolved beyond the joint project that was originally posited. Robinson himself conceded that his part in the collaboration was restricted to that of an 'assistant plot producer'.