Guy du Maurier

{{Short description|British playwright and army officer (1865–1915)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Guy du Maurier

| image = Guy du Maurier.jpg

| birth_name = Guy Louis Busson du Maurier

| birth_date = {{birth date|1865|5|18|df=yes}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1915|3|9|1865|5|18|df=yes}}

| death_place = Kemmel, Flanders, Belgium

| occupation = army officer, playwright

| yearsactive =

| parents = George du Maurier
Emma Wightwick

| spouse =

| children =

| relatives = {{ubl|Gerald du Maurier (brother) | Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (sister) | George, Jack, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas Llewelyn Davies (nephews) | Mary Anne Clarke (great grandmother)}}

}}

Guy Louis Busson du Maurier DSO (18 May 1865, London, England – 9 March 1915, Kemmel, Flanders, Belgium) was an English army officer and playwright. He was the son of the writer George du Maurier and brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and the actor Gerald du Maurier.

Busson du Maurier was educated at Marlborough and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers on 7 February 1885.Marlborough College 1905Dudgeon 2008, p.106{{London Gazette|issue=25439 |date=6 February 1885 |page=521}} He was promoted to captain on 15 September 1896, and served in the Second Boer War, where he commanded a mounted infantry regiment,Dunbar 1970, p.161 earning a promotion to major on 12 December 1900.Hart′s Army list, 1903 For his service in the war, he received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in the October 1902 South African honours list.{{London Gazette|issue=27490 |date=31 October 1902 |page=6900}}

He achieved notoriety in 1909 as the initially anonymous author of the play An Englishman's Home.Birkin 2003, p.172{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/englishmanshomep00dumauoft|title=An Englishman's home; a play in three acts|year=1909|publisher=New York Harper}}{{Cite web|url=http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?th-10827|title=NYPL Digital Collections}} The play tells the story of the Brown family caught up in the invasion of Britain by a foreign power identified as "Nearland"{{cite book|first=Andrew|last=Birkin|page=242|title=J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys|date=December 2002|publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-09822-8}} but widely assumed to represent Germany.Cooper 2012, Chapter 2 When the play was staged in Germany, it caused an outrage, as the German press saw clear references to their homeland. In 1940 it was made into a propaganda film, more pointedly titled "Mad Men of Europe".Rosslyn Park Memorial Project: Guy Louis Busson du Maurier DSO

At the death of his sister Sylvia, and as requested in her will, he became co-guardian to the Llewelyn Davies boys who inspired Peter Pan.Birkin 2003, p.189 He served for the last time in World War I, being killed in action in Flanders in 1915.Dudgeon 2008, p.222 J. M. Barrie wrote to Guy's nephew George Llewelyn Davies to inform him of the death; by the time Barrie received his response, George himself had been killed.Dunbar 1970, pp.273-274