Dated Death in Dr. Thorndyke, pt 1

There are many free books available for the Kindle, and I downloaded one of them, entitled The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943). This novel was published in 1912, and so it is loaded with "Dated Death."

The name "New Inn" does not refer to an inn as a rooming house, but rather an "inn of Chancery."
The Inns of Chancery or Hospida Cancellarie were a group of buildings and legal institutions in London initially attached to the Inns of Court and used as offices for the clerks of chancery, from which they drew their name. Existing from at least 1344, the Inns gradually changed their purpose, and became both the offices and accommodation for solicitors (as the Inns of Court were to barristers) and a place of initial training for barristers. The practice of training barristers at the Inns of Chancery had died out by 1642, and the Inns instead became dedicated associations and offices for solicitors. With the founding of the Society of Gentlemen Practisers in 1739 and the Law Society of England and Wales in 1825, a single unified professional association for solicitors, the purpose of the Inns died out, and after a long period of decline the last one (Clement's Inn) was sold in 1903 and demolished in 1934.

The narrator of the story begins by saying that "A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a doctor's consulting room.

A Snellen chart is an eye chart used by eye care professionals and others to measure visual acuity. Snellen charts are named after the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen who developed the chart during 1862. (Anyone who goes to get glasses takes a test using a Snellen chart, with large letters at the top, gradually getting smaller until only 20-20 viewers can see the tiny letters at the bottom.)

The narrator goes on to say that a "bottle-boy" sticks his head in the door of the room and announces, "Gentleman." As in, a gentleman to see you.

"Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers - all were impartially, invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and title of armigeri.

Armigeri is a Latin term, meaning, entitled to bear arms. In olden days, only Gentlemen were allowed to carry edged weapons. The weapon for the peasant was a club or long bow. Noble families were armigerous - they had a right to bear arms.

bottle-boy -- Presumably a young lad who separated out the milk bottles to return to the milk man

sweep -- chimney sweep

coster-monger - Costermonger, or simply Coster, is a street seller of fruit (apples, etc.) and vegetables, in London and other British towns. They were ubiquitous in mid-Victorian England, and some are still found in markets. As usual with street-sellers, they would use a loud sing-song cry or chant to attract attention. Their cart might be stationary at a market stall, or mobile (horse-drawn or wheelbarrow).



An explanation of Dr. Thorndyke:

Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke is a fictional detective in a long series of novels and short stories by R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943). Thorndyke was described by his author as a 'medical jurispractitioner': originally a medical doctor, he turned to the bar and became one of the first - in modern parlance - forensic scientists. His solutions were based on his method of collecting all possible data (including dust and pond weed) and making inferences from them before looking at any of the protagonists and motives in the crimes. (Freeman, it is said, conducted all experiments mentioned in the stories himself.) It is this method which gave rise to one of Freeman's most ingenious inventions, the inverted detective story, where the criminal act is described first and the interest lies in Thorndyke's subsequent unravelling of it.

Between 1907 and 1942 Thorndyke appeared in around 60 novels and short stories.

Novels
The Red Thumb Mark (1907)
The Eye of Osiris (1911), published in the USA as The Vanishing Man
The Mystery of 31, New Inn (1912)
A Silent Witness (1914)
Helen Vardon's Confession (1922)
The Cat's Eye (1923)
The Mystery of Angelina Frood (1924)
The Shadow of the Wolf (1925)
The D'Arblay Mystery (1926)
A Certain Dr Thorndyke (1927)
As a Thief in the Night (1928)
Mr Pottermack's Oversight (1930)
Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke (1931)
When Rogues Fall Out (1932), published in the USA as Dr. Thorndyke's Discovery
Dr Thorndyke Intervenes (1933)
For the Defence: Dr Thorndyke (1934)
The Penrose Mystery (1936)
Felo de se? (1937), published in the USA as Death at the Inn
The Stoneware Monkey (1938)
Mr Polton Explains (1940)
Dr. Thorndyke's Crime File (1941) -- omnibus including "Meet Dr. Thorndyke" (essay), The Eye of Osiris (novel), "The Art of the Detective Story" (essay), The Mystery of Angelina Frood (novel), "5A King's Bench Walk" (essay), and Mr. Pottermack's Oversight (novel).
The Jacob Street Mystery (1942), published in the USA as The Unconscious Witness


Short Stories
John Thorndyke's Cases (1909) (published in the United States as Dr. Thorndyke's Cases).
The Singing Bone (1912) (published in the United States as The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke).
Dr. Thorndyke's Casebook (1923) (published in the United States as The Blue Scarab)
The Puzzle Lock (1925)
The Magic Casket (1927)