In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” Cannon Street Station in London gets a quick mention by Sherlock Holmes.  In the story, Holmes mentions that Neville St. Clair had a routine of “returning by the 5.14 from Cannon Street every night” (Doyle 133).  Cannon Street Station is a real train stop, which still operates in London today.  The station opened in 1866 and was a widely used station in London at the time.  There was also a hotel at the station where “arrangements were made for reception of about 20,000,000 passengers yearly” (Thornbury).  At the time “The Man with the Twisted Lip” was published, the station was just under thirty years old.  Despite the fact that St. Clair is understood to be relatively well off, according to the Charles Booth Online Archive, much of the area nearby the station lived in poverty.  Also, St. Clair may travel through Cannon Street, because it is a poorer area, making his charade as a beggar more believable.  He could very easily blend in with those more in need than he.  According to the Old Bailey online, most crimes that happened on Cannon Street were some form of robbery or burglary, although there are occasional cases of murder, but most cases that took place in the station had to do with some form of theft.  This is a strong connection to St. Clair’s occupation of the opium den, as opium dens were often times connected with crime.  The cases of theft may make Cannon Street a metaphor for the fact that St. Clair poses as a beggar.  In a sense, he is stealing from those more in need than he. This plays into the themes of deception and poverty, which are very common themes in Victorian literature including the stories of Holmes.

Works Cited

Booth, Charles. “Booth Poverty Map (Charles Booth Online Archive).” Booth Poverty Map (Charles Booth Online Archive). LSE Library, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. “The Man with the Twisted Lip.” The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London: Penguin, 1995. 133. Print.

“The Proceedings of the Old Bailey.” Old Bailey Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Thornbury, Walter. ‘Cannon Street.’ Old and New London: Volume 1. London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1878. 544-550. British History Online. Web. 14 October 2015. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol1/pp544-550.