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Kirriemuir - Barrie House

Barrie House - October 1997

The white house is the Barrie House in Kirriemuir.  It is the birthplace of the Scottish author and playwrite, Sir James M. Barrie.

"By the time he began writing stories Barrie had begun his formal education, though he learned to read and write at home.  At the age of six he was attending the little mixed school kept by the two Misses Adam whose father, a retired clergyman, had come to live in Kirriemuir.  This was the basis of 'the Hanky School' (or 'Handkerchief School'), which was for the genteel and for the common who contemplated 'soaring' described in Sentimental Tommy and, at one further remove, of the school kept by the Misses Throssel in Quality Street.
(Green, Roger Lancelyn, J. M. Barrie, p. 15, New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1961.)

Barrie House - Washhouse Where Barrie Used to Play - October 1997

The Heritage Trail has an article on "J. M. Barrie's Birthplace".  According to the article: "J. M. Barrie spent his first eight years living and learning about life among the hard-working, poorly paid weavers, and it was from these early memories that much of his work developed.  His mother, Margaret, became his greatest inspiration always relating stories of her own childhood, encouraging him to read at every opportunity, and to expand his imagination by writing his own tales of adventure.  When his brother, David, died suddenly at the age of 13, it had a devastating effect on the family and, throughout her life, Barrie's mother cherished the memory of David as a boy, never growing older when everyone else around her did."

Barrie House - June 1977

This is the fireplace in the living area of the Barrie house.

A Tribute to J. M.Barrie by Miller H Caldwell bears the subtitles Peter Pan, Wendy House, the ticking crockodile. My connection with J. M. Barrie. An Appreciation Of Sir James Matthew Barrie Born 9/5/1860 - Died 19/6/1937:  67 years ago, on 24 June 1937, pressmen from all over the world and people from all walks of life, streamed through the streets of my native Kirriemuir, in Angus.  Like some sombre river, they flowed in the wake of the hearse which bore to his last resting place on Kirrie Hill, James Matthew Barrie. ...

Barrie House - June 1977

This is the costume worn by "Peter Pan" in the first run of the play Peter Pan in December 1904.  See the Literary Encyclopedia for more information about the production of Peter Pan, according to which:

"On 27 December 1904 the play Peter Pan was first produced at the Duke of York's Theatre.  As with all of Barrie's plays, it went through numerous drafts and revisions, often made during rehearsal and as a response to the thoughts and ideas of the actors.  For Barrie the text of a play was never fixed and stable, and meaning was always created at the point of reception.  He continued to make major alterations in subsequent productions, some of which are impressive examples of theatrical innovation, encouraging the audience to meditate on the nature of theatre as an art-form."

Barrie House - June 1977

This is the costume worn by "Peter Pan" in the second run of the play Peter Pan.

The Daily Telegraph reported on 09/06/2004 that actress Judy Campbell passed away at 88 on June 6, 2004.  She was the mother of Andrew Birkin (writer/filmaker and author of J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys).  It was his mother who urged him to write the biography of Barrie and the book was dedicated to her.

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