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R. Ivar Gunn, was the first Chairman of the Society. He was a complete and lifelong Sherlockian. As long ago as 1928 he compiled the classic Examination Paper which appeared first in Life and Letters and later in Vincent Starrett’s Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. He was an active member of the pre-war Society, being a founder member when it was formed in 1934, and preserved some of its records, together with five withered orange pips which had been invoked on a disciplinary occasion, In 1951 he was one of the small band who assembled in the Children’s Room of the Marylebone Public Library to discuss the formation of the present Society.
From that time onwards, he never missed a meeting of the Society except through illness or absence from London. Mr Gunn’s large and genial enthusiasm was the inspiration to which the Society owes much of its success. In his patient attention to hum-drum details of Council agenda, in his apt and erudite introductions from the chair – and above all perhaps in his genius for felicitous quotation from the Canon – he gave us, as Watson said of the Master, glimpses of a great heart as well as of a great brain.
He took a special interest in the Journal, reading the proofs diligently and commenting on the contents with rare wisdom. He entered the Clerihew competition and was awarded the prize; he is mentioned in connection with the naming of the Sherlock Holmes locomotive. The Society, and the whole Sherlockian world, is the poorer for his passing; but he gave us the perfect pattern of how to play the game for the game’s own sake. We salute his memory with pride, with gratitude and with affection.
This summary is based on the obituary written by James Edward Holroyd and Philip Dalton which appeared in the SHJ 1/4 Winter 1953