# Harold Stackhurst — The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes character guide

> Harold Stackhurst in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Stackhurst

**First appearance:** 0010-the-adventure-of-the-lion-s-mane

## Snapshot

The headmaster whose school grounds become a murder scene, and whose friendship with the victim makes him both witness and suspect.

## Who they are

Stackhurst runs the coastal school where Holmes's old acquaintance Fitzroy McPherson taught science, and he is the first to find the dying man staggering up from the beach. His brisk, self-possessed manner masks genuine grief and a nagging sense that he should have seen trouble coming. As the case unfolds, his testimony about McPherson's strange final words and the odd figure of Ian Murdoch gives Holmes the first real thread to pull.

## Relationships

### [Ian Murdoch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_casebook_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/ian_murdoch)

_professional_

Harold Stackhurst is a school headmaster and Ian Murdoch is a teacher, with a tense professional relationship.

### [Ian Murdoch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_casebook_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/ian_murdoch)

_professional_

Harold Stackhurst is a school headmaster and Ian Murdoch is a teacher, with a tense professional relationship.

## In the story

### [The Adventure of the Lion's Mane](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_casebook_of_sherlock_holmes_se/chapters/the-adventure-of-the-lion-s-mane)

Head of The Gables coaching establishment; friend of Holmes and witness to McPherson's death; initially suspicious of Murdoch.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_casebook_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters/harold_stackhurst
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_casebook_of_sherlock_holmes_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_casebook_of_sherlock_holmes_se/characters