Barrie family

J. M. Barrie's family were a middle-class household based in Kirriemuir, Scotland. Jamie (as he was known at the time) was the ninth child, out of ten. Two of his earlier siblings died before he was born, however.


 * David Barrie (1814 – Jun 26, 1902) was Jamie's father. He operated a successful weaving business (one of the town's primary industries).
 * Margaret Ogilvy (Sept 1819 – Sept 3, 1895) was Jamie's mother. (She kept her maiden name following Scots tradition.) She was the subject of Margaret Ogilvy, a biography/tribute by Jamie Barrie after her death.  Her mother died when she was 8 years old, and she had to take over her mother's household duties, thus growing up very young.
 * Alexander Ogilvy Barrie (Mar 1842) was Jamie's eldest brother. He taught at the Glasgow Academy, and when Jamie went there at the age of 8, Alexander looked after his brother.  He later taught at Dumfries Academy, where Jamie went when he was 13.  At the time of the 1891 census, he was H. M. Inspector of Schools at Green Bank in Dumfries.  He married Mary Cowan of Edinburgh in 1877 and they had six children: Lillian Knight, Ethel Margaret, Charles David Ogilvy, William Cowan Ogilvy, Eliza Dorothy, and Mary Cowan (all Barrie).
 * Mary Edward Barrie (Jan 1845 – 1918). She also taught at Glasgow and Dumfries and looked after Jamie.  In 1879 she married John Galloway and they had two children: John Jr and Alexander O(gilvy?) Galloway.
 * Jane Ann Barrie (legally Jean Ann) (Mar 14, 1847 – Aug 31, 1895). She didn't marry, and spent the rest of her life as her mother's companion, dying just days before her.
 * Elizabeth How Barrie (Mar 12, 1849 – Apr 1, 1851).
 * Agnes Matthew Barrie (Dec 23, 1850 – January 1851).
 * David Ogilvy Barrie (Jan 30, 1853 – Jan 29, 1867) was Margaret's favorite child. While away at school in Bothwell, Lanark, Scotland, he fell while ice skating, and fractured his skull, on the day before his 14th birthday, when Jamie was 6.  His death devastated Margaret, but she took comfort in the fact that he would always remain young in her memory.
 * Sarah Mitchell Barrie (Jun 3, 1855 – Nov 1, 1903).  She was one of the witnesses at Jamie's wedding, but did not herself get married.  She was a teacher. Later in life she kept house for her uncle Rev. David Ogilvy, who was joined by her father after her mother died.
 * Isabella Ogilvy Barrie (Jan 4, 1858 – Dec 1902). She married local man William Murray in 1880.
 * James Matthew Barrie (May 9, 1860 – June 19, 1937). He wrote things.
 * Margaret (Maggie) Barrie (July 9, 1863 – 1936). She lived with him in London at the time of the 1891 census.  There she married fellow Scot William Henderson Winter in 1893, and moved to Hampshire, where they had a son, also named William, in 1897.  Her husband was one of the witnesses at Jamie's wedding.

James Matthew married Mary Ansell in 1894, but divorced her in 1909 for having an affair with Gilbert Cannan. They had no children, but of course he unofficially adopted the Llewelyn Davies boys following the deaths of their parents. Even less formally, he "adopted" (their parents were still alive) his secretary Cynthia Asquith's sons Michael and Simon, which may have been part of the reason he left the bulk of his estate to her when he died. His parents and siblings were all deceased by that time, though there were a few nieces and nephews. He was guardian to his nephew Charlie's three children (their mother was still alive), and left them and other surviving relatives significant (but not extravagant) bequests.