Young Writers Society

Ok, I have a character, but no plot.
What I need to do is research, but I'm not sure what to research yet.
Heres a bit of info on my charrie:
His name is Arden D. Hawthorne. He's very self-confident, intelligent and a bit overly proud. I think I might make him a lawyer, not sure yet.
What I need to do is stick him in an era... but which era?
I love the 1800's to the early 1900's. The only thing is, I want this guy to kinda stick out, like Montmorecy (sp?) does in the Montmorecy books. I love that guy. Along with Sherlock Holmes . (Can you tell I like the intelligent type? ). So I'm not to sure about his occupation.
He might also be a war veteran, but I want him to be under 40.
I know quite a bit about the Victorian era, but not so much about the Edwardian era.
Now I probably sound like I'm babbling, if I need to be more specific, please tell me .
Also, if you know of any Edwardian resources, please do tell!

if you want a sherlock holmes or that kind of type i can definatly help you there if i dont give you enough info in this you can pm me iand i willl write you a small backround that you can change at whim. set the story in the 1870's to the 1910's that way He can be a war vetran without talking in the story about a war setting, i would make him englis or irish placing him at a positions of the possibility of exploration of the british empire, allow him some nobility in blood that way you can explain some weird way of knowing everyone he should know to complete the story. Make him a private investigator rather than a pulicly employed and make him kind of disgrutled at doing public service work for no money. if you have any more specifics yopu would like me to help you with like how he gets tied into these cases unintensionaly then PM me, but until then have fun with what your doin there i think itle turn out great.