Jack Llewelyn Davies

John "Jack" Llewelyn Davies (September 11, 1894 – September 17, 1959), was the second eldest of the Llewelyn Davies boys befriended by Peter Pan creator J. M. Barrie, and one of the inspirations for the boy characters in the famous story of Neverland. In some ways, he was the "odd man out" of the five brothers: he was the first to grow away from Barrie, and joined the Navy instead of attending Eton College.

Childhood
Jack and his older brother George first met the writer on their regular outings in Kensington Gardens with their nurse Mary Hodgson and infant brother Peter in 1897. He and George were the audience for the fantastic stories in which Barrie conceived of the character of Peter Pan. They took part in play adventures with Barrie which provided much of the inspiration for the adventures in the 1904 stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and its subsequent adaptations. Shortly before writing the play, Barrie made a photo book titled The Boy Castaways, featuring the three oldest brothers pretending to be shipwrecked on an island and fighting pirates, themes that later appeared in the Peter Pan story. The character of John Darling, the older of Wendy's brothers, was named after him.

In 1906 Barrie recommended Jack to Captain Robert Falcon Scott for a position at Osborne Naval College, unlike his brothers who all attended Eton College. Following the deaths of Jack's parents Arthur (1907) and Sylvia (1910), Barrie assumed guardianship of him and his brothers. Jack harbored some resentment of Barrie, at times believing the writer was trying to take his father's place (especially after Arthur died). He was not as close to the writer as were his brothers, especially George and Michael. Nonetheless, following Michael's death in 1921, when their uncle Gerald du Maurier went into a rage against the proposal that the phrase "adopted son of J. M. Barrie" be put on the tombstone, Jack rebuked him and said that Barrie's name did belong there. (In the end, Barrie diplomatically vetoed the proposal.)

Adulthood
Just prior to his mother's death, he joined the Royal Navy and served in the North Atlantic during World War I. His brother George was killed in action in 1915. His brother Michael drowned in an apparent accident in 1921. His brothers Peter and Nico (the youngest) out-lived him.

He married 19-year-old Geraldine "Gerrie" Gibb in 1917, without first asking permission of Barrie, who only grudgingly approved of the relationship. Nonetheless, Barrie gave the couple charge of the Davies family house, where Michael and Nico still lived during school holidays, in the care of Mary Hodgson. Friction between Gerrie and Hodgson led to the elder woman's resignation. Jack and Gerrie had two children: Timothy, born in 1921, and Sylvia Jocelyn (named for Jack's mother, but always known as Jane or Jinny), born in 1924.

When Barrie died, his title as baronet expired with him, because he had no children. As the eldest of the surviving Davies brothers, Jack was arguably the person closest to inheriting the title, except for two rather large technicalities: Barrie never formally adopted the boys, serving only as a de facto parent; and even if he had, adopted children are not eligible to inherit such titles. So Jack did not become "Sir John Llewelyn Davies, 2nd Baronet". (There was, however, a Baron Llewelyn-Davies: Richard, the son of Jack's uncle Crompton was made a life peer in 1964.)

Jack died in 1959 at the age of 65, several months before his brother Peter committed suicide.

His granddaughter (Sylvia's daughter) Henrietta Llewelyn Davies (died March 15, 2011) was a professional psychic and astrologer.

Portrayals
In the 1978 BBC mini-series The Lost Boys, he was portrayed at various ages by Nicholas Borton, Guy Hewitt, David Wilson, and Osmund Bullock.

In the 2004 film Finding Neverland, he was portrayed as a child by Joe Prospero.