Conan Doyle's marriage certificate

This is a copy of the marriage certificate of Arthur Conan Doyle and Louisa Hawkins. Dated August 1885, Conan Doyle is listed as a physician from Southsea. Louisa was the youngest daughter of Jeremiah Hawkins, of Minsterworth, Gloucestershire and they were married by Reverend S M Stable.

Also known as Touie, Louisa was born in Rosebrook Cottage, Dixon, Monmouthshire Wales on 10 April 1857. She married Conan Doyle in St Oswald's church Thornton-in-Lonsdale Yorkshire, where his mother Mary Doyle was a parishioner. There were several witnesses including Arthur's younger brother Innes, who was 12 at the time, Emily Hawkins (Louisa’s mother), Conan Doyle's mother, Mary Doyle, and his sister, Constance. Another witness, Brian Charles Waller was the squire of Masongill, Yorkishire from 1877.

Waller lodged with the Doyle family when he was a lecturer in Pathology at the University of Edinburgh. It is thought that he influenced Arthur’ decision to become a doctor. After his father’s death, Arthur’s mother, Mary, moved to a cottage on the Masongill estate. The couple honeymooned in Dublin.