Peter Llewelyn Davies
{{Short description|British publisher, friend of J.M. Barrie (1897–1960)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{infobox person
| name = Peter Llewelyn Davies
| image = Peter_Llewelyn_Davies_1917.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1897|2|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1960|4|5|1897|2|25|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England
| other_names =
| known_for = Foster son of J. M. Barrie
| occupation = Publisher
| spouse = {{marriage|Margaret Leslie Hore-Ruthven|1931}}
| children = 3
| parents = Arthur Llewelyn Davies
Sylvia du Maurier
| module =
{{Infobox military person
|embed = yes
|allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears =
|rank =
|battles = World War I
|awards = Military Cross
}}
}}
Peter Llewelyn Davies {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|MC}} (25 February 1897 – 5 April 1960) was the middle of five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, one of the Llewelyn Davies boys befriended and later informally adopted by J. M. Barrie. Barrie publicly identified him as the source of the name for the title character in his 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up.
He was awarded the Military Cross after serving as an officer in World War I, and in 1926 founded the publishing house Peter Davies Ltd. He struggled emotionally after the war, and eventually ended his life by suicide.
He was the first cousin of the English writer Daphne du Maurier.
Childhood
Davies was an infant in a pram when Barrie befriended his older brothers George and Jack during outings in Kensington Gardens, with their nurse Mary Hodgson. Barrie's original description of Peter Pan in The Little White Bird (1902) was as a newborn baby who had escaped to Kensington Gardens. However, according to family accounts, his brothers George and Michael served as the primary models for the character as he appeared in the famed stage play (1904) and later novel (1911), as a pre-adolescent boy.
In 1904, the year when Barrie's play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, debuted at London's Duke of York's Theatre, the Davies family moved out of London and went to live at Egerton House, an Elizabethan mansion house in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.{{cite book|last=Hastie|first=Scott|title=Berkhamsted: an Illustrated History|year=1999|publisher=Alpine Press|isbn=0-9528631-1-1|location=King's Langley|page=63}} Their time there lasted only three years; in 1907, Davies's father died of cancer and his mother took Davies and his brothers George, Jack, Michael, and Nico back to London. She too developed cancer and died in 1910. In her will, she named Barrie, the boys' uncles Crompton Llewelyn Davies and Guy du Maurier as well as her mother, Emma, as guardians to her sons.Dunbar, Janet (1970). J.M. Barrie. The man behind the image. (Collins) Hodgson continued to serve as nurse and surrogate mother for him and his brothers, with Barrie taking on the duties of the main guardian and supporting them financially.
Davies, like his brothers (apart from Jack), attended Eton College.
Adulthood
Davies volunteered along with his brother George to serve in World War I, and they both received commissions as officers in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in September 1914.{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28899/page/7225/data.pdf |title=THE LONDON GAZETTE, 11 SEPTEMBER, 1914. p. 7225 |author= |website=www.thegazette.co.uk |access-date=27 December 2019 |quote=Peter Llewelyn Davies, 6th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps.}} He was a signal officer in France and spent time in the trenches; at one point he was hospitalized with impetigo. By March 1918, he had reached the rank of captain and was the adjutant for 7th Battalion KRRC, when the German spring offensive started. Davies took charge of the battalion after their colonel was wounded during a fighting retreat that lasted for 15 days, for which he was awarded the Military Cross;{{cite book |last1=Van Emden |first1=Richard |last2=Piu |first2=Vic |date=2009 |title=Famous: 1914-1918 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMA7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA334 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |page=334 |isbn=978-1848841970 }} however, he was emotionally scarred by his wartime experience.{{Cite web|title=Gerrie (Mrs John) Llewelyn Davies on Peter being "mentally wounded beyond repair" by the horrors of the Great War|url=https://jmbarrie.co.uk/audio/gerrie-on-peter-being-mentally-wounded-beyond-repair-by-the-horrors-of-the-great-war|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226032559/https://jmbarrie.co.uk/audio/gerrie-on-peter-being-mentally-wounded-beyond-repair-by-the-horrors-of-the-great-war|archive-date=February 26, 2021|access-date=September 7, 2021}} His brother George was killed at the age of 21 at Ypres in March 1915.{{Lives of WWI |id= 1116557 | name= George Llewellyn Davies }}
In 1917, while still in the military, Davies met and began to court Hungarian-born Vera WilloughbyBirkin, Andrew: J. M. Barrie & the Lost Boys (Constable & Co., 1979; revised edition, Yale University Press, 2003) (a watercolour painter and illustrator, as well as a costume and poster designer),{{Cite web|last=Museum|first=Victoria and Albert|title=General joy {{!}} Willoughby, Vera {{!}} V&A Explore The Collections|url=http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74423/general-joy-poster-willoughby-vera/|access-date=2021-09-07|website=Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Vera Willoughby {{!}} Collections Online {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG51247|access-date=2021-09-07|website=www.britishmuseum.org}} a married woman 27 years older, with a daughter older than he was.{{Cite web|title=Gerrie on Peter and Vera Willoughby -|url=https://jmbarrie.co.uk/audio/gerrie-on-peter-and-vera-willoughby-she-had-a-daughter-who-was-older-than-peter|access-date=2021-09-07|website=J M Barrie}} He stayed with her when on leave, which scandalized Barrie and caused a rift between the two. His former nurse and mother figure Mary Hodgson disapproved strongly as well. The relationship continued at least through the end of his military service in 1919. In 1926 he published an edition of George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer featuring illustrations by Willoughby.{{Cite web|title=Vera Willoughby, illustrations to Farquarson's The Recruiting Officer, selected plates , illustrating Theatre|url=http://www.fulltable.com/vts/aoi/w/wby/w.htm|access-date=2021-09-07|website=www.fulltable.com}}
In 1926, Davies, with financial help from Barrie, founded a publishing house, Peter Davies Ltd, which in 1951 published his cousin Daphne du Maurier's work about their grandfather, illustrator and writer George du Maurier, The Young George du Maurier: a selection of his letters 1860–67.
He married Margaret Leslie Hore-Ruthven, youngest daughter of Maj-Gen Walter Hore-Ruthven, in 1931, and had three sons with her: Ruthven (1933–1998), George (b. 1935) and Peter (1940–1989).{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
He grew to dislike having his name associated with Peter Pan, which he called "that terrible masterpiece".{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} Upon Barrie's death in 1937, most of his estate and fortune went to his secretary Cynthia Asquith, and the copyright to the Peter Pan works had previously been given in 1929 to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. Davies and his surviving brothers each received a legacy. Davies's son Ruthven later told an interviewer:
My father had mixed feelings about the whole business of Peter Pan. He accepted that Barrie considered that he was the inspiration for Peter Pan and it was only reasonable that my father should inherit everything from Barrie. That was my father's expectation. It would have recompensed him for the notoriety he had experienced since being linked with Peter Pan—something he hated.{{cite book |editor-last=Tatar |editor-first=Maria |date=2011 |title=The Annotated Peter Pan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pulBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT178|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393066005 |edition=The Centennial }} (from section: J. M. Barrie in Neverland: A Biographical Essay)
He assembled and edited family papers and letters into a collection which he called the Morgue and completed in 1950.Birkin, Andrew: J. M. Barrie & the Lost Boys (Constable & Co., 1979; revised edition, Yale University Press, 2003)
Death
On 5 April 1960, after lingering at the bar of the Royal Court Hotel, 63-year-old Davies walked to the nearby Sloane Square station of the London Underground and threw himself under a train as it was pulling into the station.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} A coroner's jury ruled that he had killed himself "while the balance of his mind was disturbed".{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} Possible contributing factors to his suicide were his alcoholism and ill health (he was suffering from emphysema). Newspaper reports of his death referred to him in their headlines as "Peter Pan".Chaney, Lisa. Hide-and-Seek with Angels – A Life of J. M. Barrie, Hutchinson, 2005
Portrayals
In the 1978 BBC mini-series The Lost Boys, he was portrayed{{cite web |url=http://www.jmbarrie.co.uk/abpage/TLB%20SCRIPTS/TLB.htm |title=The Lost Boys by Andrew Birkin: A Trilogy for BBC Television |year=1976 |last=Birkin |first=Andrew |website=JM Barrie |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031326/http://www.jmbarrie.co.uk/abpage/TLB%20SCRIPTS/TLB.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }} at various ages by Jean-Benoit Louveaux, Matthew Blakstad, Dominic Heath, and Tom Kelly.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077045/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast |title=The Lost Boys (1978 TV Mini-Series) Full Cast & Crew |website=IMDB |publisher=IMDb.com, Inc. |access-date=11 January 2017}}
In the 2004 film Finding Neverland, he was portrayed as a child by Freddie Highmore,{{cite news |title=Freddie Highmore: from child star to leading man |date=30 October 2016 |last=Llewellyn Smith |first=Julia |newspaper=The Telegraph |publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited }} presenting him as a child troubled by his father's death, who is drawn out of his shell by Barrie; Highmore received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance.{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/05/sag.nominees.winners/ |title=List of 2005 SAG Award nominees |date=7 February 2005 |publisher=CNN|access-date=11 January 2017}} In the musical adaptation, he was portrayed by Harry Polden{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2012/legit/reviews/finding-neverland-2-1117948474/ |title=Review: 'Finding Neverland' |date=4 October 2012 |last=Benedict |first=David |website=Variety |access-date=11 January 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/oct/07/finding-neverland-curve-leicester-review |title=Finding Neverland - review |date=6 October 2012 |last=Brennan |first=Clare |newspaper=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited |access-date=11 January 2017}} in the 2012 U.K. premiere;{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/finding-neverland-musical-starring-julian-ovenden-and-rosalie-craig-premieres-in-uk-sept-22-com-197855 |title=Finding Neverland Musical, Starring Julian Ovenden and Rosalie Craig, Premieres in U.K. Sept. 22|date=22 September 2012 |last=Hetrick |first=Adam |website=Playbill |access-date=11 January 2017}} Aidan Gemme played Davies in the American Repertory Theater (2014){{cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2014/08/16/aidan-gemme-already-stage-pro-but-baseball-beckons/yCp8pa5LMc0I4tjlX3uTRM/story.html |title=At 11, Aidan Gemme is already a stage pro |date=16 August 2014 |last=Hartigan |first=Patti |newspaper=The Boston Globe |publisher=Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC |access-date=11 January 2017}} and original Broadway theatre (2015) productions.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea8-d936-a7fd-eefc73630002&type=op#oc |title=Finding Neverland - Cast |website=Playbill |access-date=11 January 2017}}
In the 2013 play Peter and Alice by John Logan, he was portrayed by Ben Whishaw as a troubled individual who had been hurt by his fame and his past.{{cite news |title=Peter and Alice, Noel Coward Theatre, review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/9952907/Peter-and-Alice-Noel-Coward-Theatre-review.html |date=26 March 2013 |last=Spencer |first=Charles |newspaper=The Telegraph |publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited |access-date=11 January 2017}}
Sources
- Birkin, Andrew: J M Barrie & the Lost Boys (Yale University Press, 2003)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://jmbarrie.co.uk/ Website with information on Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family]
{{Peter Pan}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Peter Llewelyn}}
Category:Military personnel from London
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps officers