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Guy Warrack was a distinguished Holmesian and was deservedly recognised as an honorary member of our Society.
He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Winchester and Oxford, afterwards studying at the Royal College of Music where he won the Gold Medal as the outstanding student of his year. He went on to become a distinguished conductor and composer, writing a much-admired symphony and composing the music for several films.
He first appeared on the Holmesian scene when he published his delightful monograph on Sherlock Holmes and Music. It was at once acclaimed as a work of true scholarship, beautifully written and painstakingly researched. Since at that time scant heed had been paid to Holmes’s musical gifts and tastes, it broke much new ground and filled a serious lacuna. He was also, somewhat surprisingly, a mathematician of professional standard.
Guy Warrack was among the first to join the Society, shortly after which he was elected to the Council.
His speech in proposing the toast of the Immortal Memory at the Blue Carbuncle Dinner in 1953 was memorable; his theme was the literary osmosis between Shakespeare and Dr Watson, with implications that, apart from a trifling problem over dates, the latter may have written the former’s plays.
The first two Chairmen of the Society had been Ivar Gunn and Dr Maurice Campbell. There was only one man who was their obvious successor, and so in 1955 Guy Warrack became our third Chairman, a role he so well fulfilled with his quiet charm and scholarship. He has left his stamp on the Society and our success is in no small measure due to the impress that men of Guy’s calibre gave it in earlier years.
They were indeed vintage years and, when he relinquished the Chair, Guy quietly resumed his former part as an unobtrusive but nevertheless active and attentive member down the years. He was essentially a shy man. It took time to get to know him, but once you had done so, you had as delightful and witty a friend as ever you could wish to meet.
This summary is based on the obituary written by Tony Howlett which appeared in the SHJ 17/4 Summer 1986