Peter Pan at Great Ormond Street Hospital

Peter Pan was created by James Matthew Barrie, who was born in Scotland on 9 May 1860.

Peter Pan first appeared in "The Little White Bird" (1902), where Peter is a baby in Kensington Gardens learning to fly from fairies and birds.

Peter then returned as the centre of Barrie’s play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" which debuted in London in 1904.

Following the success of the play, the Peter Pan chapters from "The Little White Bird" book were published in 1906 under the title "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens".

Barrie later adapted the play into a novel ‘Peter and Wendy’, which was published in 1911.

Barrie supported GOSH for many years, and in 1929, he was invited to join a committee to help the hospital acquire land for a new wing. Although Barrie declined, he mentioned he "hoped to find another way to help." Shortly after, the hospital learned that Barrie had gifted all his rights to "Peter Pan" to GOSH.

Explaining his donation, Barrie said:

“At one time, Peter Pan was an invalid in the Hospital… and it was he who put me up to the little thing I did."

Thanks to this gift, GOSH began receiving royalties from every production of the play, as well as from the sale of Peter Pan books and products. Barrie asked that the amount raised for the hospital never be disclosed, and GOSH has respected his wishes.

In 1988, the House of Lords approved a unique clause in the UK's Copyright Designs & Patents Act, granting the hospital perpetual rights to receive royalties from "Peter Pan."

For almost a century, the story of Peter Pan has continued to benefit seriously ill children undergoing life-saving treatment at GOSH.

Read more about JM Barrie's gift of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital.