Profile of J.M. Barrie on Famous Like Me

Sir James Matthew Barrie, Bt., OM (May 9, 1860 - June 19, 1937), more commonly known as J. M. Barrie, was a Scottish novelist and dramatist. He is best known for creating the character Peter Pan, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn-Davies boys.

Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, the youngest of nine children, and was educated at Dumfries Academy and Edinburgh University. He became a journalist at Nottingham, then London, and became a novelist. His first novels were set in Kirriemuir, disguised as "Thrums" (his father was a weaver). He then wrote for the theatre, including Quality Street, What Every Woman Knows, and The Admirable Crichton.

His 'Thrums' novels were hugely successful when they were published, starting with Auld Licht Idylls (1888). Next came A Window in Thrums (1889) and The Little Minister (1891). His two 'Tommy' novels, Sentimental Tommy and Tommy and Grizel came in 1896 and 1902 and dealt with themes much more explicitly related to what would become Peter Pan. The first appearance of Pan came in The Little White Bird (1901)

Barrie was a massive name in the literary scene, and counted Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Hardy amongst his friends and acquaintances.

Although some people may find his friendship with children suspicious, there does not seem to be any evidence that anything inappropriate happened, and the youngest of the boys, Nico flatly denied that Barrie ever behaved inappropriately; some biographers suggest that he may have been asexual. To that extent he may have been fey; his work characteristically taking us beyond the temporal, sexual, material preoccupation of contemporary Western consciousness back into another earlier world reminiscent of the Gaelic 'Tír Na nÓg', the mythic land of perpetual youth. He was married to the actress Mary Ansell, but it was a sexless and childless marriage and ended in divorce. He was godfather to Peter Scott.

He died in 1937 and was buried at Kirriemuir, next to his parents, sister, and brother David, who had died in a skating accident just before his 14th birthday.

In 1924, he specified that the copyright of Peter Pan should go to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. The current status of the copyright is complex. See Peter Pan Copyright Status.

The Llewelyn-Davies family

The Llewelyn-Davies family consisted of the parents Arthur (1863-1907) and Sylvia, née Du Maurier (1866-1910) (daughter of George Du Maurier) and their five sons George Llewelyn-Davies (1893-1915), Jack Llewelyn-Davies (1894-1959), Peter Llewelyn-Davies (1897-1960), Michael Llewelyn-Davies (1900-1921), and Nicholas Llewelyn-Davies or Nico (1903-1980).

Barrie became acquainted with the family in 1897 or 1898 after meeting George and Jack with their nurse in London's Kensington Gardens, where he often came while walking his dog, Porthos, and lived nearby. He did not meet Sylvia until later, at a chance encounter at a dinner party.

He became a surrogate father, and when the boys became orphans, he became their guardian. Some sources say that the mother's will specified the nurse's sister, and that he forged or unintentionally mistranscribed the will. However it was clear that he was the only one with the time and resources to bring them up together, the alternative being splitting the boys up amongst relatives, a scenario Sylvia objected to.

Barrie suffered bereavements with the boys, losing the two to whom he was closest. George was killed in action in World War One and Michael, with whom Barrie corresponded daily, drowned in a possible suicide pact, one month short of his 21st birthday, while swimming at a known danger-spot with a friend at Oxford. Some years after Barrie's death, Peter Davies, later a publisher, wrote his 'Morgue', which contains much family information and comments on Barrie. He later committed suicide by jumping in front of an Underground train.

The statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, erected in secret overnight for May Morning in 1912, was supposed to be modelled upon a photograph of Michael, but the sculptor decided to use a different child as model, leaving Barrie very disappointed with the result. "It doesn't show the devil in Peter," he said.

A semifictional movie about his relationship with the family, Finding Neverland, was released in October 2004, starring Johnny Depp as Barrie and Kate Winslet as Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies.

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