In 1903, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed briefly at Hill House Hotel at Happisburgh, near Norwich. Asked to sign an autograph book, he saw in it a signature and address written in "dancing men" by G. J. Cubitt, the proprietor's son, who was then about seven years old. Conan Doyle then and there set to work upon "The Adventure of the Dancing Men," using not only the cipher, but the name Cubitt for the central character in this tale.
Hilton Cubit states that he first met his wife 3 years earlier when he visited London for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The Golden Jubilee was celebrated on 20 June 1887 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Therefore this story is set in 1890.
The letter Abe Slaney wrote to Elsie Cubitt from Chicago that she burned without opening was postmarked July 20 1887. She must've married Hilton Cubitt within a month of meeting him.
In the original short story, Ridling Thorpe manor was in Norfolk, not Derbyshire.
The British heritage of the actor playing Abe Slaney can be heard in his pronunciation of Chicago, with the hard "tch" sound as opposed to the soft "sh" used by an American English speaker.