#if you need anyone to go trawling through a text to scramble together a complex timeline from scraps of information

[magiefish]

A Timeline for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The years here are dated according to which of the three years of the novella they take place in, not their historical location. 18– is used for unknown years. Notes are placed underneath each with speculation and justifications for the dates provided.

18–, 10 years previous: Jekyll and Lanyon have a falling out

This previous is dated from Chapter 2, not the first experiment

Year One

18– ??: Jekyll turns into Hyde for the first time.

The door story is dated in winter (December - February) and Utterson is still concerned about the will, so we could assume that Jekyll turned into Hyde for the first time earlier the same year or late the previous year

Lanyon says the entries in Jekyll’s logbook dated back ‘many years’ but ‘ceased nearly a year ago’. This occurs early in January of Year Three of the novella. I have no explanation for this, maybe he was just still in Year Two brain, happens to the best of us.

18– ??: Jekyll gets an apartment and a housekeeper for his Hyde persona in Soho. Simultaneously / around the same time Jekyll tells his household about Hyde and calls upon them to make himself ‘a familiar character’.

18– ??: Jekyll writes out the holographic will leaving everything to Hyde

1801, sometime in winter, 3 am: Hyde tramples a girl and is forced to pay money for it. He stays in Enfield’s house for the rest of the morning and the cheque is payed when the banks open.

It’s most likely December - It’s winter, and the Danvers murder occurs ‘nearly a year’ later so December would make sense seeing as November’s still autumn and this is the closest winter month to October.

If after Chapter 3 the events are ‘nearly a year later’ also, it can assumed that the events of Chapter 1 - 3 likely all take place over December / early January

1801, ??: Following the Enfield incident, Jekyll creates a separate bank account for Hyde

1801, Sunday: Utterson walks past the door with Enfield and he recounts his story. Utterson goes home and examines the will before deciding to go and speak to Lanyon where he learns he and Jekyll have not been friends for 10 years.

1801, unspecified amount of time (few days perhaps?): Utterson waits for Hyde

Still winter, mentions frost

1801, after a time: Utterson meets Hyde.

1801, two weeks later: Utterson talks to Jekyll about Hyde after a party.

Year Two

1802, August: Jekyll turns into Hyde involuntarily for the first time and goes cold turkey.

The event is dated ‘two months previous’ to the murder in October, so it’s August

1802, October: Hyde murders Sir Danvers in view of a witness maid before fleeing the scene of the crime. He turns into Jekyll at home and destroys the key to the back door. The maid calls the police at 2 am after fainting for an unspecified amount of time. They call on Utterson the same day and investigate the crime scene and Hyde’s house. Utterson goes to Jekyll’s house late in the afternoon to talk to him and receives a letter supposedly from Hyde, but a servant tells him they received no letters. He goes home and shares a drink with Mr Guest who compares the letter with a dinner invitation from Jekyll and concludes that they were written by the same hand.

Jekyll says the news of the murder became public ‘the next day’ but Utterson hears people crying it in the square when he visits Jekyll which is presumably on the same day of the murder. Possibly the murder occurred late the previous day before midnight, and the maid was passed out for like two to three house before waking up at 2am and calling the police.

1802, October to January: Jekyll renews social activities and charity and sees Utterson more regularly, ‘almost daily’. He continues to sin in secret but in his Jekyll persona.

18–, 10th December: the date on Jekyll’s letter to Lanyon.

The letter was written on the ninth and Jekyll believed the letter may be delayed and Lanyon wouldn’t receive it until the next morning, in which case it would make sense for him to date it 10th JANUARY in anticipation. December is either a typo that wasn’t caught even after 100 something years or Jekyll/Hyde was so out of it that he completely misdated the letter.

Year Three

1803, 8th January: Utterson dines with Jekyll & Lanyon

1803, 9th January: Jekyll sends a letter to Lanyon requesting his help. Lanyon receives Hyde at midnight.

1803, 10th January: Hyde turns into Jekyll in front of Lanyon. Jekyll goes home and sleeps, but upon walking across the court in the morning he turns back into Hyde. It takes a double dose to restore himself, but six hours later he turns into Hyde again.

Hyde is received by Lanyon at midnight so in the intervening time to make the potion the date has technically changed to the 10th

1803, 12th January: Utterson calls upon Jekyll and is denied

1803, 13th January: Lanyon writes his narrative

He places the 9th January as ‘four days ago now’

1803, 14th & 15th of January: Utterson calls upon Jekyll and is denied

1803, 16th January: Utterson dines with Mr Guest

If dated from the 12th, the 16th would be the date of the ‘fifth night’ mentioned

1803, 17th January: Utterson visits Lanyon who he finds sick. He says he’s had a shock and refuses to elaborate, but decries Jekyll. Utterson goes home and writes a letter to Jekyll.

Again, if dated from the 12th, the 17th would be the date of the ‘sixth night’

1803, 18th January: Utterson receives Jekyll’s response letter which tells him that he intends to seclude himself for the rest of his life.

This is the ‘next day’ from the 17th

1803, 25th January: Lanyon takes to bed

A week from receiving Jekyll’s letter on the 18th

1803, around 25th to 8th February: Lanyon dies

‘In less than a fortnight’ from the 25th

1803, night after the funeral: Utterson opens Lanyon’s last letter and finds another letter inside telling him not to open it until the death or disappearance of Jekyll.

1803, unspecified period: Utterson continues to try and visit Jekyll but eventually falls off

1803, Sunday, unknown month between January and March: Utterson and Enfield encounter Jekyll at his window before he abruptly retreats.

1803, March, Sunday: Jekyll cries out to god. This is the last time Poole hears him.

The last time Poole heard Jekyll was ‘eight days’ before the last night, which if we date to Monday would make this day Sunday

1803, March, for a period of a week: Hyde locks himself in the cabinet and calls on Poole to get chemicals for him

1803, March, possibly Monday: Jekyll writes his statement under the influence of the old powders. The last night occurs: Hyde commits suicide and Utterson goes home to read Lanyon and Jekyll’s narratives, promising to return before midnight.

Poole says he’s been called upon ‘all of last week’ and has been scared for ‘about a week’. ‘Last week’ would imply the week has passed, so Monday would make sense.

Jekyll’s statement is ‘dated at the top’ to the same day as the Last Night. If Jekyll wrote the statement this would be unusual: Poole recalls the last time he heard him being ‘eight days’ from the last night when he cried out to god. Why would Jekyll cry out to god if he still had some of the old salt? Was he crying out because he realised he had run out of it?

Why would Poole only hear Hyde and not Jekyll from that day if he still had some of the old salt? Jekyll remarks that his face is now ‘sadly altered’ so he could be an imperfect transformation, not fully Jekyll but not fully Hyde.

Alternatively, Jekyll could have not written that statement at all. Hyde didn’t destroy it despite it being in plain view, and we know he shares the same handwriting as Jekyll. He also wrote letters to Lanyon and Poole while stuck as Hyde in the hotel in his Jekyll-handwriting and neither questioned wether or not it was him writing. Who’s to say Hyde couldn’t convince Utterson too?