Sir Denis Nayland Smith is the hero of many of the Fu Manchu novels of Sax Rohmer. Originally a police commissioner in colonial Burma given a roving commission to bring down the Devil Doctor, he later holds positions at Scotland Yard and British Intelligence. He works closely with his Watson-figure, Dr. Petrie.
In Tarzan Alive, Philip José Farmer identifies Denis Nayland Smith as a member of the Wold Newton Family, being the son of Sigrina Holmes, sister of Sherlock.... except, Farmer also states that he does not believe Holmes ever had a sister, and that the Fu Manchu stories are fictional (the genealogy in Tarzan Alive is ostensibly just an analogy rather than a reliable guide, after all). In later editions of the book, Farmer draws attention to the theory that Fu Manchu was based on the (supposedly) real-life Hanoi Shan, a villain in Warped in the Making: Crimes of Love and Hate and The Thrill of Evil, both by H. Ashton-Wolfe. By the time Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life came out, Farmer was ready to concede the existence of Fu Manchu, Nayland Smith, and Sigrina Holmes.
In article "Who's Going to Take Over the World When I'm Gone?: Part II, The Dynasty of Fu Manchu" (published in his book, Myths for the Modern Age), Win Scott Eckert states that Sigrina's husband was John Vansittart Smith from Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Ring of Thoth". Mr. Eckert reveals that Nayland Smith had been married to a Joan Blakeney (descendent of both Sir Percy Blakeney and the Hornblower family), and that they were the parents of Professor Horatio Smith and his brother Sir George Smith (from the film Pimpernel Smith). Mr. Eckert's article, and "Watching the Detectives, or The Sherlock Holmes Family Tree" by Brad Mengel (also in Myths for the Modern Age) together reveal that John "Hannibal" Smith from The A-Team was the son of Nayland Smith and Fah Lo Suee.
External Links
- "The Dynasty of Fu Manchu" by Win Scott Eckert (earlier version of his print article)
- "Watching the Detectives, or The Family Tree of Sherlock Holmes" by Brad Mengel (earlier version of his print article)