James M. Barrie

Sir James Matthew Barrie, also known as J. M. Barrie, was born into a family of small-town Scottish weavers and educated in Scotland. Barrie developed a career as a playwright and a novelist after moving to London as a young man. In London, Barrie met the Llewellyn Davies boys, who served as an inspiration for the Lost Boys in Barrie’s Peter Pan works. Barrie’s 1904 play, Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up and 1911 novel, Peter and Wendy would become his most famous works. In his will, Barrie left the Great Ormond Street Hospital the rights to Peter Pan, which continue to help fund the institution.