Timeline

Significant dates in the life of J M Barrie.

1860 Born 9 May, at Kirriemuir in Angus, Scotland
1868 Attends Glasgow Academy
1871 Attends Forfar Academy
1873 Attends Dumfries Academy
1878 Enters Edinburgh University
1882 MA, Edinburgh
1885 Leaves Kirriemuir to seek his living in London as a freelance writer
1888 Publication of Auld Licht Idylls and When a Man’s Single
1889 Publication of A Window in Thrums
1890 Publication of My Lady Nicotine
1891 Publication of The Little Minister; Ibsen’s Ghost first performed (Toole’s Theatre, 30 May)
1892 Walker, London first performed (Toole’s Theatre, 25 February)
1892 The Professor’s Love Story first performed (Star Theatre, New York, 19 December)
1894 Marries the actress Mary Ansell
1895 Death of his mother, Margaret Ogilvy
1896 Publication of Margaret Ogilvy and Sentimental Tommy; visits the USA for the first time, and is entertained by Charles Frohman, eventual producer of Peter Pan
1897 First meeting with the Llewelyn Davies family. The five children of George and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies were very important to the evolution of Peter Pan, and Barrie eventually adopted them in 1910 after both parents had died from cancer.
1900 Publication of Tommy and Grizel; The Wedding Guest first performed (Garrick Theatre, 27 September)
1902 Death of his father, David Barrie; publication of The Little White Bird; Quality Street first performed (Vaudeville Theatre, 17 September); The Admirable Crichton first performed (Duke of York’s Theatre, 4 November)
1903 Little Mary first performed (Wyndham’s Theatre, 24 September)
1904 Peter Pan first performed (Duke of York’s Theatre, 27 December)
1905 Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire first performed (Duke of York’s Theatre, 5 April)
1906 Publication of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (extracted from The Little White Bird)
1907 Death of Arthur Llewelyn Davies
1907 Involved in campaign for the reform of theatre censorship, after Harley Granville-Barker’s Waste was refused a licence by the Lord Chamberlain
1908 Sole performance in Barrie’s lifetime of When Wendy Grew Up; An Afterthought (22 February)
1908 What Every Woman Knows first performed (Duke of York’s Theatre, 3 September)
1909 Divorces Mary Barrie on the grounds of her adultery with Gilbert Cannan; receives Hon. LL D (Edinburgh)
1910 Death of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies
1911 Publication of Peter and Wendy
1913 Receives baronetcy in the Birthday Honours, 14 June
1913 The Adored One first performed (Duke of York’s Theatre, 4 September)
1914 Visits USA on diplomatically contentious mission to raise support for the allied war effort
1915 George Llewelyn Davies, eldest of the five boys, killed in action in France
1917 Dear Brutus first performed (Wyndham’s Theatre, 17 October)
1919 Elected Rector of St. Andrews University
1920 Mary Rose first performed (Haymarket Theatre, 22 April)
1921 Death by drowning of Michael Llewelyn Davies, fourth son of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, and Barrie’s favourite
1921 Shall We Join the Ladies? first performed (RADA, 27 May)
1922 Receives the Order of Merit
1928 First publication of Peter Pan; publication of The Plays of J. M. Barrie (first single-volume collection, Barrie determining which plays were to be included and which omitted)
1930 Receives Hon. LL D (Cambridge); installed as Chancellor of Edinburgh University
1931 Publication in The Times of Farewell, Miss Julia Logan (book publication 1932)
1936 The Boy David first performed (His Majesty’s Theatre, 21 November)
1937 Dies, 19 June; buried at Kirriemuir