Barrie, Sir J. M., ( James Matthew Barrie) (1860–1937), began working with the
Nottinghamshire Journal. In 1888 he began his series of ‘
Kailyard School’ stories and novels based on the life of ‘Thrums’, his home town of Kirriemuir, in Scotland. These included
Auld Licht Idylls (1888),
A Window in Thrums (1899), and his successful
The Little Minister (1891). His first play,
Richard Savage, was performed in London in 1891. In 1896 he published the first of his two most revealing books,
Sentimental Tommy, followed by
Tommy and Grizel (1900). Meanwhile came his sentimental comedy
Quality Street, performed in 1901, and in 1902 the enduring play
The Admirable Crichton (see
Crichton).
Peter Pan, his internationally famous children's play, first performed in 1904, grew from stories he had made up for the five sons of his friends Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, to whom he gave a home on their parents' death. It was followed by a story,
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) and by the play in book form in 1911.
What Every Woman Knows was performed in 1906,
Dear Brutus in 1917, and
Mary Rose in 1920.
He was made a baronet, awarded the OM, and received several honorary degrees. His fame and success were considerable for the first half of this century, but his unfashionable whimsicality has come to obscure the best of his work.