Peter Pan and Great Ormond Street Hospital

Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, has been helping other children to grow up for over 75 years.

The first performance of Peter Pan took place on 27 December 1904 at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, to tremendous acclaim.  Barrie later adapted the play into novel form, which was first published in 1911 under the title Peter Pan and Wendy.  In 1928 the play of Peter Pan was published in its final version.  It was at this time that Barrie first mentioned, to his adopted son Nico Llewellyn Davies, that he was thinking of giving the rights to the story and characters to Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

His association with Great Ormond Street dates back to 1908, when he made what is believed to be his first donation to contribute towards the campaign run by his friend William Waldorf Astor for a much-needed new outpatients building. This was to be the beginning of an enduring relationship between Barrie and the hospital, and the author paid several visits to its wards over the ensuing years.

In February 1929, Great Ormond Street approached Barrie and asked him to sit on a committee for an extensive redevelopment plan, in which the hospital would be rebuilt on the site of the old Foundling Hospital (in the event the hospital was actually rebuilt on its original site). Barrie declined to serve on the committee, but he promised to find some other way to help Great Ormond Street.  This he certainly did; by April, he had handed over the copyright of his immortal children’s classic to the hospital.

He was elected vice-president of the hospital the same month.  In December 1929, Barrie instigated one of the most enduring traditions of Peter Pan’s association with Great Ormond Street when he suggested that the nursery scene should be performed to the children on the wards by the London cast of the play. The young patients and hospital staff were entranced and this performance became an annual Christmas treat for many years.

At his death in 1937, the provision was confirmed in his Will.  Though childless himself, Barrie loved children and had long been a supporter of the hospital, and his exceptional gift was a natural expression of that. 100 years later, the play is still enchanting children and adults alike.

In the finest tradition of the fairy story there will always remain one secret that can never be told – how much has Great Ormond Street Hospital benefited from J M Barrie’s generosity?  It was a condition of the gift that this would not be disclosed but you can be certain that the hospital would not be the incredible centre of hope that it is today were it not for Peter and his adventures.

2004 was proclaimed ‘Peter Pan Centenary Year’ and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity spent the year celebrating this unique and valuable gift.

As with all productions of Peter Pan, Great Ormond Street Hospital also benefits financially every time Piers Chater Robinson’s Musical Adaptation of Peter Pan is staged in any country, either by professional or amateur companies.

Hospital History

The Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street opened its doors on 14 February 1852 with just ten beds.  It was the first children’s hospital in Britain and quickly acquired the Patronage of Queen Victoria and wide public interest, including that of Charles Dickens.  In fact, Dickens wrote the first fundraising feature, Drooping Buds, and held the first recorded fundraising event, a recital of A Christmas Carol given by the author himself.  The event was hugely successful enabling the hospital to purchase a second building and so double its size.

Today the hospital has 349 beds and offers the UK’s widest range of paediatric specialties under one roof, treating children from all over the country, and worldwide through outreach clinics and telemedicine projects.  A major redevelopment of the site, lasting ten years, has recently got underway and it remains vital that we continue to receive public support to help us, and the children we treat, get better.