The Life of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien Authority on Anglo–Saxon and Middle English literature; author of mythopoetic tales. Philologist. From birth to a career in Academics (1892-1915) John's father Arthur Tolkien, worked for Lloyd's Bank in an attempt to clean up the diamond trade. After his father's death, his mother Mabel Tolkien returned back to England with her sons. Hillary was John's only sibling Arthur Tolkien dies, the rest of the family moves near Sarehole Mill, outside Birmingham. Sarehole begat the name of Bilbo's home Bag End. Tolkien chose for the hobbit's house the name "Bag End," which was what the local people called his Aunt Jane's Worcestershire farm. Worcestershire, the county from which the Suffields had come, … is of all The Shire from which the hobbits come; Tolkien wrote of it:"Any corner of that county (however fair or squalid) is in an indefinable way 'home' to me, as no other part of the world is." But the village of Hobbiton itself with its mill and river is to be found not in Worcestershire but in Warwickshire, now half hidden in the red-brick skirt of Birmingham but still identifiable as the Sarehole where Ronald Tolkien spent four formative years. 1 His mother Mabel is confirmed in the Catholic Faith. The nominally protestant family cut them off of all money as a result. This persecution, J.R.R. later attributed to the untimely illness and death of his mother four years later. 2 Enters King Edward VI School, Birmingham 1904 Death of mother, Mabel Tolkien Meets Edit Bratt Father Francis Morgan discovers Tolkien's romance with Edith Enters Exeter College, Oxford to read Classics Before begining his academic career and after graduating Oxford Tolkien became an officer in the British military. The horrors of Combat were etched deep into his consciousness. He was a member of the 11th Lancanshire Fusiliers, one of the most decorated regiments of the war as well as a unit which endured devastating casualties. 3 Tolkien labored for much of his life as an academic Professor (1915-1959) Obtains First Class in English Language and Literature. Commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers Tolkien labored on his grand mythology for the rest of this life leaving behind untold reams of work which his son Christopher continued to work on to release several postumous works for his father. Marries Edith Bratt. Serves from July to November in the Battle of the Sommeand returns to England suffering from "trench fever" Birth of son John Tolkien and his Christian literary peers wrote for people who did not know the faith, or did not like it, or did not think it important—"a public which knows no History, no Classics, no Theology, and has almost forgotten its Bible," Dorothy L. Sayers complained. "At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily," said Flannery O'Connor. T. S. Eliot described the writers (and readers) of the day as "those who have never heard the Christian Faith spoken of as anything but an anachronism." This was the reader to whom writers like Tolkien, Sayers, Eliot, O'Connor, Evelyn Waugh, and Graham Greene wrote. Yet Tolkien's books were less obviously Christian than theirs. He did see his Lord of the Rings as a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work." He even expressed some frustration that readers did not see this. But in writing Christian truth to a swiftly secularizing modern world, Tolkien took a different tack. 5 Takes up work with the new Oxford English Dictionary Appointed Reader in English literature at Leeds University. Birth of Michael Tolkien Among his publications are A Middle English Vocabulary Birth of son Christopher Professor meant so much more at that time than it does now. Publishes Sir Gawain and the Green Knight A High honor He returned to Oxford as professor of Anglo-Saxon Friendship with C. S. Lewis begins. Lewis' comments regarding thier new friendship? "No harm in him: only needs a smack or two." Birth of daughter Priscilla Publishes Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle. Publishes his treatise on Hali Meithhad, or "Holy Virginity" Begins to write The Hobbit it all started with a single phrase scribbled hastly on a scrap of paper "in a hole in the ground lived a hobbit" published Chaucer as a Philologist Delivers the lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" to British Academy Publishes The Hobbit. Begins a sequel that becomes The Lord of the Rings published On Fairy-Stories Delivers the lecture "On Fairy-Stories" Takes up Chair of English Language and Literature at Oxford University. Inklings friend Charles Williams dies Publishes Farmer Giles ... Published The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Published the phenomenally successful trilogy The Lord of the Rings Retires from his work at Oxford After retirement Tolkien continued to labor on his writing (1859-1973) C. S. Lewis dies Moves to Bournemouth published The Road Goes Ever On published The Silmarillion Death of Edith Tolkien. Returns to Oxford Oxford awarded Tolkien an honorary doctorate and the Queen named him a "Commander of the Order," a rank just below knighthood. source Dies on September 2 Christopher Tolkien Labored many years combing through, assembling and preparing the notes of his father for publication (1973-current) Posthumous publication by son Christopher. The Silmarillion was refered to by Tolkien as his "legendarium" it is the clarification and expansion of the mythology from which The Hobbit and the LOTR springs. Posthumous publication by son Christopher Posthumous publication by son Christopher Posthumous publication of the Children of Hurin a greatly expanded tale which first appeared in "Unfinished Tales"