Mrs. Barrie

[TheWendybird]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before and I can't remember if I've ever heard the answer either but...did Mrs. Barrie go on to have children later on? I just recently read that they apparently did TRY to conceive but it didn't happen...so I guess I was wondering...was Barrie shooting blanks or was Mary barren? Does anyone know if she went on to have children of her own later on? I know her and Gilbert never lasted.

[Robert Greenham]

Mary Ansell, Mary Barrie, Mary Cannan - all the same person - did not have any children by any man.  When she married Gilbert Cannan in 1910 she was aged 49 (although her marriage certificate states that she was only 41) and therefore any children from then on were pretty unlikely.

[TheWendybird]

Mary Ansell, Mary Barrie, Mary Cannan - all the same person - did not have any children by any man.  When she married Gilbert Cannan in 1910 she was aged 49 (although her marriage certificate states that she was only 41) and therefore any children from then on were pretty unlikely.

Ah very true. Thanks for the info!

[CoriSCapnSkip]

Yes, I asked the question earlier and to my knowledge no one answered.  Thanks for the answer.  I feel sorry that this happened when she obviously wanted kids.   

[tcarroll]

I agree, I think she wanted children and probably believed she would have them with Barrie when they first married.  It's so sad that she held on that many years, and didn't leave until she was 49, if the marriage wasn't going to work anyway, she could probably have had children if she had left earlier. But, I suppose that was "unheard of" in those days.

[TheWendybird]

I agree, I think she wanted children and probably believed she would have them with Barrie when they first married.  It's so sad that she held on that many years, and didn't leave until she was 49, if the marriage wasn't going to work anyway, she could probably have had children if she had left earlier. But, I suppose that was "unheard of" in those days.

It's unfortunate that public opinion causes so much pain in ones life..that's why I say to hell with what anyone else thinks...Always follow your heart. Then again perhaps it was just a matter of she really did love him and couldn't bare to leave till it became too much and by then it was too late....sad

[tcarroll]

Wendy, I agree completely that she loved Mr. Barrie, and that probably made the pain a lot worse.  I just meant that even if she was tempted to leave when she was younger, at that time divorce was such a scandal. I'm sure she must have love him very deeply, and wanted to have his children. But Cannan must have swept her off her feet as the old saying goes, and she just couldn't pass up that last chance for happiness.  Sad, I agree.  On the other hand, it must have made her feel wonderful at times to be married to the most respected author of his day.  That too matters to some women...though I can't imagine why.

[Robert Greenham]

Yes.  I, too, like to think that Mary really did love James and that she wanted children.  How much acting did she do after marrying JMB?  Little or none, evidently choosing to be a full-time housewife, home-maker and husband-supporter in preference to continuing her career as an actress.

After six years of child-free marriage - unconsummated, it has been generally accepted - Mary took a lease on Black Lake Cottage, a second home for the couple for nine years, and her only home during her marriage to Gilbert Cannan.  But this was also a place to where both Mary and James would increasingly repair separately for short periods.  Readers of certain biographies, and especially of Mary Ansell's 'The Happy Garden' and my own little book, will know that Mary occupied much of her time by transforming the cottage, both structurally and decoratively, and by developing and enlarging its substantial garden.  James was not always present but even when he was he often shut himself away to work while Mary busied herself in the garden, despite having a full-time gardener.  The new plants and trees, and especially her delphiniums, were clearly her child substitutes.  And in addition to the well-known pet dogs, first Porthos and then Luath, who accompanied the Barries wherever they went in the UK, she had her own pets at the cottage: two white rabbits and a black cat (names unknown), and two tortoises: first Hookie, who met his unfortunate end at the paws of Luath, and then Everard. 

So you could say that Mary had a family of sorts.