J M Barrie (1860 – 1937)

Barrie studied literature at University, and after graduating wrote stories and plays, gaining modest success over the years in both theatre and books.

The character of "Peter Pan" first appeared in Barrie's novel The Little White Bird, published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton in 1902, and serialised in the US in the same year in Scribner's Magazine. Barrie's more famous and enduring work 'Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up' was first produced for the theatre, where it had its first stage performance in December 1904. In 1911 Barrie developed the Peter Pan play into the novel Peter and Wendy.

In April 1929, Barrie gave the copyright of the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital, a leading children's hospital in London, which continues to benefit from the royalties today.