St John-At-Hampstead: The Burial Place of Captain Hook

Hampstead has long been a place for the rich and famous of London to live, away from the hustle and bustle. Its location on a hill elevated above the city and the natural spring waters led to Hampstead’s reputation as a health resort from the 17th century.

It boasts a strong literary link with previous inhabitants including Keats, DH Lawrence and John Galsworthy. With this cultural heritage, the graveyard at St John-at-Hampstead, the Hampstead parish church, is packed with interesting figures. Most intriguingly, it is where it could be said that Captain Hook and Peter Pan are buried next to each other…

St John-at-Hampstead

First, a history of the church itself. It is thought there has probably been a site of worship here since after 986AD when Hampstead was given to the monks of Westminster Abbey. The first record we have of a church here 1312 with a bishop by the name of John de Neuport.

The basis of the current church dates from 1744. It was built to accommodate the growing population of Hampstead as the village’s popularity blossomed. It has since then undergone a number of renovations and expansions to keep up with the demands of the parish.

In 1871 plans were proposed to beautify and improve the church, including the demolition of the church tower. This part of the plan was thankfully abandoned after a protest from many high profile residents and cultural figures of the day including, among others, painter Ford Madox Brown, writer Anthony Trollope and designer William Morris.

The Tragic Real Life Tale of Peter Pan

In 1812, the churchyard became too full and an over-spill graveyard just the other side of the street was procured. It is in one corner of this quiet graveyard that you will find the family grave of the Llewelyn-Davies family.

Arthur (1863-1907) and Sylvia (1866-1910) Llewelyn Davies had 5 boys: George, Jack, Peter, Michael and Nicholas. George and Jack were out walking one day in 1897 with their Nanny in Kensington Gardens when they met J M Barrie, future author of Peter Pan. Barrie went on to befriend the whole family and became a big part of their lives. They went on holidays together and he supporting them financially and emotionally after Arthur’s death. After Sylvia’s death in 1910 he became the children’s guardian and was known to them as ‘Uncle Jim’.

The Llewelyn-Davies family became his inspiration for the Darling family in Peter Pan with the title character of Peter being named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies. The character of Peter, Barrie said, was an amalgamation of the five boy’s personalities.

Tragically the Llewelyn children had generally unhappy and short lives. George died at the age of 21 as a soldier in the First World War and Michael drowned at the age of 20 in 1921 (thought to be a suicide). Peter also took his own life in 1960 at the age of 63 by throwing himself under a train. He was taunted at Eton for the connection with Peter Pan and believed that Barrie had exploited him. He called Peter Pan ‘that terrible masterpiece’ and it is thought that the association led him to alcoholism and depression.

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Captain Hook

The story of Peter Pan was, to begin with, a play and was first performed in 1904 at the Duke of York’s theatre in the West End. The villain, Captain Hook, was played by Gerald Du Maurier. You can find him buried right by the Llewelyn-Davies family grave with his father, George Du Maurier- a famous cartoonist known for his work in Punch.

But why are they buried so close? Gerald was the brother of Sylvia Llewellyn-Davies and uncle to the Llewelyn-Davies boys. Just to round off all the famous literary connections- Gerald’s daughter is, famous author, Daphne du Maurier.

Gerald lived in Cannon Hall in Hampstead with his wife Muriel Beaumont from 1916 until his death in 1934.

Other Famous Graves

The graveyards have a personal, organic feel to them with a variety of graves interspersed amongst the foliage and trees. They are two of the nicest I have come across in London and are well worth a wander around. There are plenty of interesting graves to look out for as you do:

Hugh Gaitskell (1906-1963)- leader of the labour party from 1955-1963

John Constable (1776-1837)- famous romantic painter of the English Countryside

Joseph Jordan (1787-1873)- surgeon famous for developing medical education outside of London but also known for his use of body-snatchers to obtain corpses for dissection. Read more about the body-snatcher gangs of London here.

Mary Knox (1909-2000)- illustrator of the the original Mary Poppins stories by P L Travers (another children’s literature link!)

Eliza Acton (1799-1859)- writer and poet who wrote on of Britain’s first cookery books aimed at the ordinary domestic reader. Apparently an inspiration to Delia Smith!

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