There was Sherlock, the eccentric detective for hire who used logic and wit to outsmart criminals on the streets of Victorian England. Then there’s Reginald Ashley Sherlock – a real modern-day Sherlock investigator from Loganlea.
Mr Sherlock has spent his whole retirement investigating Sherlock heritage of not only himself, but others in the community.
As a Sherlock investigator, his sole focus is on uncovering the history of the Sherlock name.
“I started 18 to 20 years ago as a specific Sherlock investigator, and then my work developed into families who married into Sherlocks and it got crazy from there,” he said.
He said he is one of many genealogy enthusiasts around the world who focus only on Sherlock history.
He traced back his family name to parts Denmark – where he uncovered the history of grandparents he never got to meet – right back to medieval Europe in the 1300s.
“One day I was sitting there, and I said to my grandad, ‘I’ll never get to meet my great grandmother and grandfather’,” he said.
“Not unless you go to Denmark,” his grandad said.
His grandad then gave him a name and a package of old letters, which inspired his interest in family history.
“I really wanted to know more about them, and I’ve now seen inherited photos, which I never saw as a kid, with my great grandparents standing in snow in Oslo,” he said.
Mr Sherlock believes the first Sherlock came to Australia in the early 19th century.
“Samuel Sherlock was the first one who came out here to Australia – to our knowledge he was the very first Sherlock,” he said.
“Samuel came out here around 1838 and passed away about 1849.”
Some Sherlocks moved from Ireland and England to Australia as “free people” and there were those who “came here courtesy of the English government”, also known as convicts, Mr Sherlock said.
Val Watson, a member of the research team at Logan River Family History Society Inc, said there were some interesting links to the Sherlock name.
There was a Logan Village music teacher who died aged 71 in 1921. It’s unsure what relation she was to Lewis, who was born in Logan Village and whose name is on the 1909-1934 electoral rolls as an auctioneer after receiving his license in 1912 at Kilcoy.
He was named alongside Bridget who was a licensed “victualler” – someone licensed to sell alcohol. They were married in 1917.
