J M Barrie

J M BARRIE d1937. Scottish novelist and playwright best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens. Then to write Peter Pan (The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up) a 1904 West End "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland. Although he continued to write successfully, Peter Pan overshadowed his other work. He unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents. He was made a baronet by George V on 14th June 1913 and a member of the Order of Merit in the 1922 New Year Honours. Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London which continues to benefit from them today. He died in London aged 77 on June 19th 1937