Happy Birthday May 9

James Matthew Barrie was born on May 9, 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland to a conservative Calvinist family. He was a small child and only grew to just over 5 ft 3 inches as an adult. He didn't shave until he was 24.

J. M. Barrie by George Charles Beresford, 1902

When he was 6-years-old, James Barrie's older brother David (his mother's favorite) died two days before his 14th birthday in an ice-skating accident. This left his mother devastated, and Barrie tried to fill David's place in his mother's attentions, even dressing as him and whistling in the manner that he did. Gradually his mother drew comfort in the thought of a boy who would never grow up. 

Barrie was friends with Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies and entertained their sons George and Jack regularly with his ability to wiggle his ears and eyebrows. The character of Peter Pan was invented to entertain George and Jack. Barrie would say, to amuse them, that their little brother Peter could fly. He claimed that babies were birds before they were born; parents put bars on nursery windows to keep the little ones from flying away. This grew into a tale of a baby boy who did fly away. 

The first appearance of Peter Pan came in Barrie's novel The Little White Bird, which was serialized in the United States, then published in a single volume in the UK in 1902. Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up had its first stage performance on 27 December 1904. 

After the death of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies, he adopted their five sons: Peter, Jack, George, Michael and Nicholas. Barrie was very close to all the boys, and was heartbroken when Michael drowned in 1921 and George was killed in action in 1915.

For more May 9 anniversaries, including Thomas Blood's attempt to steal the Crown Jewels, the creation of root beer, and the designation of the bison as the official mammal of the United States, check out OnThatDay.