J M Barrie

James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus on May 9th 1860. His father, David Barrie was a handloom weaver, and mother, Margaret Ogilvy, the daughter of a stonemason. He was the ninth of ten children. His brother David, his mother’s favourite, died in a skating accident. Barrie tried to gain her affection by dressing up in the dead boy's clothes and the obsessive relationship that grew between mother and son was to mark the whole of his life. Barrie published an adoring biography of her in 1896.

In common with most weaving families the Barries placed a great deal of importance on education. Barrie attended schools in Glasgow and Dumfries before moving on to the University of Edinburgh, receiving his M.A. in 1882. He worked as a journalist for the Nottingham Journal and moved to London as a freelance writer in 1885. His first novel, The Little Minister, was published in 1891.

Barrie married an actress, Mary Ansell, in 1894 and they settled in Kensington but were divorced in 1909. He wrote three more novels published during the last years of the century:

Margaret Ogilvy and her Son (1896)

Sentimental Tommy (1896)

Tommy and Grizel (1900)

His first successful stage play was a dramatised version of his first novel, The Little Minister, after which he abandoned novel writing altogether. His next plays were:

Quality Street (1901)

The Admirable Crichton (1902)

Peter Pan (1904)

Peter Pan evolved gradually from the stories that Barrie told to Sylvia Llewellyn Davies's five young sons. She was the daughter of the novelist George du Maurier, and a motherly figure, with whom Barrie formed a long friendship. In 1909 Mary Barrie began an affair with the writer Gilbert Cannan and Barrie's marriage ended. When Sylvia Llewellyn Davies and her husband died, Barrie was the unofficial guardian of their sons.

Barrie was made a baronet in 1913

In 1922 he received the Order of Merit

He received honourary degrees from Edinburgh, St Andrews, Oxford and Cambridge

Barrie died on June 3, 1937.

Selected works:

BANDOLERO, THE BANDIT, 1877

CAUGHT NAPPING, 1883

THE NEW AMPHION, 1886

AULD LICHT IDYLLS, 1888

BETTER DEAD, 1888

WHEN A MAN'S SINGLE, 1888

A WINDOW IN THE THRUMS, 1889

AN EDINBURGH ELEVEN, 1889

MY LADY NICOTINE, 1890

THE LITTLE MINISTER, 1891

IBSEN' GHOST, 1891

RICHARD SAVAGE, 1891

A HOLIDAY IN BED / LIFE IN A COUNTRY MANSE, 1982

WALKER, LONDON, 1892

PROFESSOR'S LOVE STORY, 1892

TILLYLOSS SCANDAL, 1883

TWO OF THEM, 1893

BECKY SHARP, 1893 

AN AULD LICHT MANSE, 1893

SCOTLAND'S LAMENT, 1895

JANE ANNIE, 1893 (with A. Conan Doyle)

MARGARET OGILVY, 1896

TOMMY AND GRIZEL, 1896

SENTIMENTAL TOMMY: THE STORY OF HIS BOYHOOD, 1896

A PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP, 1898

THE WEDDING GUEST, 1900

QUALITY STREET, 1902

THE LITTLE WHITE BIRD, 1902

THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON, 1902

PETER PAN: OR THE BOY WHO WOULD NOT GROW UP, 1904

PANTALOON, 1905

ALICE SIT-BY-THE-FIRE, 1905

JOSEPHINE, 1906 

PUNCH, 1906

PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS, 1906

WALKER, LONDON, 1907

WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS, 1908

WHEN WENDY GREW UP: AN AFTERTHOUGHT, 1908

OLD FRIENDS, 1910

A SLICE OF LIFE, 1910

THE TWELVE-POUND LOOK, 1910

PETER AND WENDY, 1911

ROSALIND, 1912

THE DRAMATIST GET WHAT THEY WANT, 1912 

THE WILL, 1913

HALF AN HOUR, 1913 

THE ADORED ONE, 1913

HALF HOURS, 1914

DER TAG, 1914

ROSY RAPTURE, THE PRIDE OF THE BEAUTY CHORUS, 1915

THE FATAL TYPIST, 1915

THE NEW WORD, 1915

THE LITTLE MINISTER, 1915

A KISS FOR CINDERELLA, 1916

THE REAL THING AT LAST, 1916

IRENE VANBRUGH'S PANTOMIME, 1916 

SHAKESPEARE'S LEGACY, 1916

A KISS FOR CINDERELLA, 1916

DEAR BRUTUS, 1917

THE OLD LADY SHOWS HER MEDALS, 1917

RECONSTRUCTING THE CRIME, 1917

DEAR BRUTUS, 1917

WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS, 1917

A WELL-REMEMBERED VOICE, 1918

ECHOES OF THE WAR, 1918

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE RUSSIAN DANCERS, 1920

MARY ROSE, 1920

SHALL WE JOIN THE LADIES, 1921

NEIL AND TINTINNABULUM, 1925

REPRESENTANTIVE PLAYS, 1926

BARBARA'S WEDDING, 1927

THE PLAYS OF J.M. BARRIE

FAREWELL, MISS JULIE LOGAN: A WINTRY TALE, 1931

THE BOY DAVID, 1936

UNIFORM EDITION OF THE WORKS AND PLAYS, 1913-1937

THE GREENWOOD HAT, 1937

THE BOY DAVID, 1938

M'CONNACHIE AND J.M.B.: SPEECHES, 1938

LETTERS, 1942

THE PLAYS, 1942 (rev. 1947)

MARY ROSE, 1947

FIFTY YEARS OF PETER PAN, 1954

WHEN WENDY GREW UP, 1957

PLAYS AND STORIES, 1962