1929: J.M. Barrie gifts Peter Pan rights to Great Ormond Street Hospital

Promotion for a production of the play Peter Pan. The poster is all black text on a white background. The page is split into three sections. The top and bottom are continuous text about the Hospital for Sick Children and its current need for funds. The middle section is an advertisement for a production of Peter Pan. This middle section reads: "The Danial Mayer Company present Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie with Jean Forbes-Robertson and George Curzon. The play produced by arrangement with the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London." The rest of the page reads as follows: "The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, WC1. Recovery Branch Hospital: Tadworth, Surrey. Patrons: Their Majesties the King and Queen. By the gracious gift of Sir James Barrie this is now Peter Pan's own Hospital, and thus everything about it interests those who love "the boy who never grew up." So here is some special and particular news about the Hospital. It has grown too big for its house and as we cannot make the Hospital smaller we have to make the house bigger and better. We don't want to say hard things about the present buildings, but they are simply not good enough. For instance, sunlight is such a wonderful Doctor that we have to learn to bottle it and use it to cure sick children when the real thing cannot be got. Now it is sad but true to say that in our Hospital there are Wards that rarely, if ever, see the sun so that one of the best Doctors in the world - Doctor Sunlight, doesn't get a chance. In the new hospital every Ward will be flooded with sunlight and this will be a marvellous blessing. Now about another matter. We have a wonderful staff of nurses who love and care for sick little children. They have to live in and don't you agree they should have a house where they would have reasonable comfort? Well, they haven't got it at present so they must have a new nurses' house. And one thing more. We are trying to find out the causes of children's diseases so that we may kill them before they have a chance to kill little children. The doctors who are doing this great work are hindered in their efforts all the time because of the very limited space at their disposal. And so a new place must be built for them. Now all these changes will cost a lot of money. But because it will help us to relieve the pain and save the lives of little children we believe that children who are well and happy and grown ups too will help us by sending a gift. If you can only spare a little, never mind - every little helps - and so please send it along for the Reconstruction Fund, addressed to Peter Pan, care of Lord Macmillan, at the Hospital."
Promotion for Peter Pan play and appeal for funds for development of Hospital. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish author and playwrite best known for creating the character of Peter Pan. Pan first appeared in Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird, but became more widely known in the stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up which debuted in the West End in 1904. The play was a huge success, debuting in New York on Broadway a year later, and Barrie’s novelisation of the play – published as Peter and Wendy in 1911 – became a bestseller.

In 1929, Barrie unexpectedly gifted the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). This meant GOSH was able to receive royalties from every production of the play, sale of Peter Pan books and other items (e.g. merchandise, commemorative coins), and – in later years – from film adaptations. Barrie was personally thanked by Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII), then President of the Hospital, for his contribution.

Subsequent fundraising for the Hospital continues to draw from Peter Pan themes and characters. Upon reception of the rights, the Junior Branch of the Hospital for Sick Children’s Ladies’ Association renamed themselves to the Peter Pan League, and the Hospital began to be described as “Peter Pan’s Hospital”.

The cast from the West End production of the play also regularly visited the hospital and performed scenes for staff and patients.

Though the UK copyright was set to expire in 1987, the UK government added a special clause to the 1988 Copyright Designs & Patents Act, granting GOSH Peter Pan royalties in perpetuity. By request of Barrie, GOSH has never publicised the amount raised by Peter Pan for the hospital.

Photograph of the cast of Peter Pan visiting patients at Great Ormond Street Hospital. There are three cast members in the photo - Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Nana the dog. All three are in costume. There a two children, one sat on Tinkerbell's lap whilst stroking Nana's face, and one sat on Peter Pan's lap.
The cast of Peter Pan visit patients at the Hospital. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Image of a page from the Peter Pan League's magazine. The top left corner is a drawing of Captain Hook, a character from the Peter Pan stories. Either side of Captain Hook are two scrolls. The scroll on the left reads "The Peter Pan League is going to have a wonderful Treasure Cave at the Merry Market, where Captain Hook and his pirates hope to make a great deal of money for the Children's Hospital." The scroll on the right reads: "Every member of the League is invited to send two or three small gifts for this Treasure Cave. They will be put in little coloured bads. Please send your gifts to Peter Pan, Great Ormond Street, WC1." The rest of the page provides details and description of the event, called the Merry Market. Across the page in blue text is written "Captain Hook and his Pirates will be there". The bottom of the page reads "In aid of the Reconstruction Fund of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, WC1".
Advertisement in the Peter Pan League’s magazine for a fundraising fair in 1930 in aid of the Reconstruction Fund. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Reproduction of a Christmas card from 1938. The card is in black and white. In the middle of the page is a drawing of the hospital with beds in front of it. Above the hospital is a drawing of Peter Pan holding a banner which reads "Have you seen our new hospital". Below the hospital, printed text reads "With all good wishes for Christmas and the New Year from". The card is signed by hand "Patience, with love, hoping you are well.
Christmas card from 1938 with Peter Pan design. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

1930 Appeal

Barrie made his gift in 1929. In 1930, the Hospital began a fundraising campaign for a new ‘Reconstruction Fund’. Donations would be used to:

  • Construct new patient wards, increasing capacity and providing every patient with access to sunlight
  • Provide a new nurses’ house to improve the comforts for those who have to ‘live in’ the hospital
  • Establish a new research department for the prevention of disease

Peter Pan language and imagery was used in many of the campaign materials for this appeal. Other materials, such as those below, used drawings and images of children, and of the designs for the new hospital building

Front page of a leaflet appealing for funds for new research department. The text is brown on a cream background. At the top of the page, text reads: "The hope of the future. The prevention of disease. New Research Department." In the middle of the page is a large photograph of the hospital building. The text at the bottom reads: "The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street London WC1 As it is today."
1930 fundraising leaflet for new research department. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Front image of a fundraising brochure. The brochure has a white background. At the top is a black and white sketch of the proposed new hospital building. The image has a bright red border. In the middle of the page is a sketch of a young child who looks sad and is pointing up at the hospital drawing. Below the child, text reads "Will you help to build this Hospital for me and countless other children?" The text is bright red in colour.
Front cover of fundraising leaflet from 1930. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Reproduction of a leaflet used during the 1930s appeal. This image is of the two inside pages of the leaflet held open. The top half of the pages is an image which spans across both pages. It is a black and white drawing of the planned hospital building. The sky in the background of the drawing is red. Below the drawing, in red capital letters is the sentence "Help this to come true". The rest of the page is black text on white background. The text reads: "What a contrast is here" Gone the long dark winding passages which tire our nurses and expose our little patients to draughts. Gone the steep and tortuous stairs which have to be negotiated so many times a day and night. Gone the old-fashioned wards and constricted balconies, the tiny bathrooms and inadequate sinks, and in their place smooth warm passages, ample lifts, wards designed to catch every ray of sunshine with huge open spaces for outdoor patients, everything planned by a clever architect to help those who have to be healed and - no less important - those who heal. If only we can make this come true! Surely everyone who loves children and has their welfare at heart will help us, will realise that it is our solemn duty to the children of today and tomorrow to build our new hospital. We dare not fail the children. So we ask for help, whatever help you can give, great or small, only help." The sentence we dare not fail the children is underlined, and the final word of the text - help - is capitalised.
Inside of fundraising leaflet from the 1930s. Image courtesy of Great Ormond Street Hospital.