The Peter Pan Cup -- JMB and the Serpentine Swimming Club

[argoscomm]

I am editor of a U,S. magazine abour swimming. Looking for information about Barrie and the Serpentine Swimming Club in London. Club members have swum in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake every Christmas Day since 1864. In 1904, JMB donated a cup to serve as the award for winners of the swim race, and this cup is called the Peter Pan Cup. I am looking for information about JMB's connection to the swim sclub.

Thanks.

Bill Edwarrds

[andrew]

Fascinating... but the first I've ever heard of it! Mackail makes no mention of it in his encyclopaedic biography - do you have a precise date in 1904? If you look at the original draft of Peter Pan ("Anon: A Play" - it's on this website) which Barrie was writing in the winter of 1903/04, the crocodile makes a final appearance at the end, emerging from the Serpentine in pursuit of Hook, disguised as a schoolmaster, who in turn is in search of the truant Peter.

[argoscomm]

Andrew:

Here's a link to the website of the Serpentine Swimming Club: www.serpentineswimmingclub.com

On the site's menu, under the heading, "Race," there is another link to the "Peter Pan Cup" page, which contains the information I have pasted below. I found numerous references on the Web to this Christmas Day swimming race and to Barrie's connection. Beyond saying that the author dedicated the winner's cup to the race, however, there is little information. I was hoping to find that perhaps he swam in the event or some other tidbit about why the race attracted him.

Thanks. Bill.

Here's the text: 

The “Peter Pan Cup” Christmas Morning Handicap Swim

Whilst all across London, children are eagerly waiting to unwrap their presents, the members of the “Serpentine Swimming Club” who have met in London’s Hyde Park, winter and summer since 1864 are preparing, some decked out in Santa hats, to swim their traditional 100 yards annual Christmas day swim.  The Serpentine Swimming Club is one of the oldest swimming clubs in the country, and the first race was won by H.Coulter.  He streaked home to win a gold medal, which became customary to award to the winner.  This changed in 1904 when Sir James Barrie, the novelist, immortalised the race by presenting the first “Peter Pan Cup”; like the boy that never grew up, the race has taken on a similarly legendary appeal.

 The race is only open to members and is raced on a handicap system.  For anyone foolish enough to plunge into the icy Serpentine waters, with its temperature usually below 40 oF (4 oC) degrees in the winter, without acclimatisation over several months, the shock could prove fatal!  As one New Year’s reveller found to his cost.

To compete in the Peter Pan Christmas Day Race you must have competed in the entire Winter Series.  YOU CANNOT JOIN THE SWIMMING CLUB ON THE DAY AND SWIM IN THE RACE

The race starts at 9am on the 25th December, on the south bank of the lake close to the Serpentine Café (the old pavilion).  Spectators are most welcome, but are advised to wrap up warm.

All the swimmers at the “Serps” wish you a very merry Christmas.   

[argoscomm]

Andrew:

This just occurred to me. The Serpentine Swimming Club claims Barrie dedicated the Peter Pan Cup in 1904. If he did so for the 1904 Christmas Day swimming race, then that would have occurred on December 25, 1904. But didn't the play premier on December 27, 1904? It seems odd that Barrie would have done so two days before his play opened. For one thing, it is likely he was too busy to think about a swim race two days before his opening. For another, it seems odd that he would have the nerve to make such a gesture, or that the swimming club would have welcomed him, at a time when "Barrie" probably had not yet become a household word. Does this make sense?

Thanks. Bill. 

[Robert Greenham]

By the time Barrie presented the Peter Pan Cup his play would have been advertised in the West End and the press, and it had probably been the subject of a deal of excitement and speculation in theatrical and literary circles, let alone with the general public.  I doubt that Barrie was seeking some last-minute publicity by this gesture, for he would have had no need of it.

By the time of the presentation of the cup, Barrie had already been a household name, especially in London, for some few years.  Remember, too, that his novel The Little White Bird was a best seller, having been published in about two and a half years earlier, in the summer of 1902.  By December 1904 he was a very rich man!

[argoscomm]

Andrew:

Well, this certainly has been a lot of fun to research. No doubt Barrie was familiar with the Kensington/Hyde Park area and the Serpentine Lake. I wish we could have established something more about his connection to the swimmers' club, but I think our readers will be satisfied to learn of Barrie's generosity toward the swimmers, and that Captain Hook and the crocodile might still be lurking about. Thank you for taking the time to communicate with me on this subject. I have certainly enjoyed wandering about your website to learn more.

Bill

[argoscomm]

Andrew:

One more point. Geraldo Rivera is a constant embarrassment for American journalists.

Bill

[andrew]

it seems odd that he would have the nerve to make such a gesture, or that the swimming club would have welcomed him, at a time when "Barrie" probably had not yet become a household word. Does this make sense?

On the contrary, by 1904 Barrie was just about the most famous playwright in England!  I'm sure the swimming club would have been delighted to be endorsed by the man who had brought Kensington Gardens such renown (via the pages of "The Little White Bird") that in 1903 Kensington Borough Council presented him with his own private key!  I don't think/have never heard that Barrie was a keen swimmer himself, but perhaps a mutual friend brought him and the swimming club together?  Strange that Mackail makes no mention of it. Do keep us posted if you make any further discoveries!