Peter Pan lives on in London hospital
On a calm street next to Queen Square in Bloomsbury, the red brick building of the Great Ormond Street Hospital stands out. The façade still reads “Hospital for Sick Children”, just as it did on the 14th of February 1852, when the hospital opened.
The original picture shows the hospital as it looked in the early 20th century (HHARP- the Historic Hospital Admission Records Project, Kingston University), with the 2017 picture in the middle (Lisa Nordbo Fiil)
With its 10 beds, it was the first hospital in England that provided in-patient beds specifically for children. Since then, the hospital has grown to play an important role in paediatrics in cooperation with its research partner, University College London.
The first expansion in 1858 was made possible by Charles Dickens, who raised money for the hospital by giving a public reading of “A Christmas Carol”. Funds from charity have played a big part in the hospital’s development and donations to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity have funded several expansions and upgrades. Most famously, J.M Barrie gifted the hospital with all the rights to Peter Pan in 1929, with the request that the amount raised wouldn’t be revealed. This gift has meant that the hospital receives royalties every time a movie has been made, a play put on and the book republished. The copyrights did expire in 1987, 50 years after Barrie’s death, but an amendment to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act proposed by former Prime Minister Lord Callaghan gave the hospital the rights in perpetuity.
If you happen to visit the Great Ormond Street Hospital, you can find Peter Pan and Tinkerbell outside the entrance and a plaque dedicated to Barrie in the stunning hospital chapel.
