J. M. Barrie - Marriage

Marriage

Barrie became acquainted with actress Mary Ansell in 1891 when he asked his friend Jerome K. Jerome for a pretty actress to play a role in his play Walker, London. The two became friends, and she joined his family in caring for him when he fell very ill in 1893 and 1894. They married in Kirriemuir on 9 July 1894, shortly after Barrie recovered, and Mary retired from the stage; but the relationship was reportedly unconsummated and the couple had no children. The marriage was a small ceremony in his parents' home, in the Scottish tradition. In 1900 Mary found Black Lake Cottage, at Farnham, Surrey, which became the couple's "bolt hole" where Barrie could entertain his cricketing friends and the Llewelyn Davieses. Beginning in mid 1908, Mary had an affair with Gilbert Cannan (an associate of Barrie's in his anti-censorship activities), including a visit together to Black Lake Cottage, known only to the house staff. When Barrie learned of the affair in July 1909, he demanded that she end it, but she refused. To avoid the scandal of divorce, he offered a legal separation if she would agree not to see Cannan any more, but she still refused. Barrie sued for divorce on the grounds of infidelity, which was granted in October 1909. A few of Barrie's friends, knowing how painful the divorce was for him, wanted to avoid bad press. They wrote to newspaper editors asking them not to publish the story (only three papers did).