I, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on the 3rd January, 1892 at Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, in South Africa but at the age of four my brother and I were taken back to England by my mother. After my father's death the family moved to Sarehole, on the south-eastern edge of Birmingham. I spent a happy childhood in the countryside and you can see that by my sensibility to the rural landscape can clearly be seen in my writing and pictures.
My mother died when I was only twelve and both my brother and I were made wards of the local priest and sent to King Edward's School, Birmingham, where I shined in my classical work.After completing a First in English Language and Literature at Oxford, I married Edith Bratt. I was also commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the battle of the Somme. After the war, I obtained a post on the New English Dictionary and began to write the mythological and legendary cycle which I originally called 'The Book of Lost Tales' but which eventually became known as The Silmarillion.
In 1920 I was appointed Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds which was the beginning of a distinguished academic career culminating with my election as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford. Meanwhile I wrote for my children and told them the story of The Hobbit. It was my publisher, Stanley Unwin, who asked for a sequel to The Hobbit and gradually I wrote The Lord of the Rings, a huge story that took twelve years to complete and which was not published until I was approaching retirement. After retirement my wife and I lived near Oxford, but then moved to Bournemouth. I returned to Oxford after my wife's death in 1971. I died on 2 September 1973 leaving The Silmarillion to be edited for publication by my son, Christopher.
I have returned to see how the world is today.
Here is a timeline of my life.
January 31, 1892: I, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is christened in the Bloemfontein Cathedral.
February 17, 1894 Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, my brother was born, is born in Bloemfontein, South Africa
April 1895 Mabel Tolkien (my Mother) boards the SS Guelph and returns to Birmingham, England with my brother Hilary, and I. Arthur Tolkien (my Father) remains in South Africa with plans to join his family when time permits.
February 15, 1896 Arthur Tolkien dies in Bloemfontein, South Africa, as a result of a severe hemorrhage suffered the previous day. He had been sick for many months with rheumatic fever, and never made the trip to Birmingham to see our family
1896 Mabel Tolkien moves our family from Birmingham to the hamlet of Sarehole.
Autumn 1899 At the age of 7, I took the entrance exam for King Edwards School, but fails to obtain a place.
June 1900 Mabel Tolkien and her sister May Incledon are received into the Church of Rome, bringing about the wrath and opposition of their strongly Baptist relatives.
September 1900 I retook the entrance exam for King Edward's, and was accepted.
Late 1900 The Tolkiens move from Sarehole to Moseley to be closer to Birmingham and King Edwards School.
1901 The Tolkiens move again, from Moseley to a small villa behind King's Heath Station.
Early 1902 Mabel Tolkien again moves our family, from King's Heath to a house in Edgbaston next door to the Birmingham Oratory and the Grammar School of St. Philip. To save money, Mabel removes the boys from King Edwards and enrolls them in St. Philips.
Autumn 1903 I won a Foundation Scholarship to King Edwards, and returns there to continue my studies.
November 14, 1904 Mabel Tolkien, age 34, dies after six days in a diabetic coma
Nov./Dec. 1904 Hilary and I move in with our Aunt, Beatrice Suffield
Late 1904, Early 1905 After the death of my mother, the guardianship of my brother Hilary and I is taken over by Father Francis Xavier Morgan, a priest of the Birmingham Oratory
Early 1908 Hilary and I move to 37 Duchess Road, behind the Birmingham Oratory, into a room let by a Mrs. Faulkner.
Early 1908 I began my first term at Oxford
December 17, 1910 I was awarded an Open Classical Exhibition to Exeter College
1913 I took the Honours Moderations exams
1915 Awarded First Class Honours degree in English Language and Literature
1915 Commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers
March 22, 1916 I married Edith Bratt
June 1916 I was assigned to the Lancashire Fusiliers and sent to France where I saw some action in Somme as second Lieutenant. Returns to England suffering from shell shock.
1917 Birth of my first son John
1919 I worked as an assistant on the Oxford English Dictionary for two years
1920 Birth of my second son Michael
July 21, 1920 I received my appointment of Readership in English Language, University of Leeds, from October 1, 1920
March 16, 1921 I received my appointment membership of Faculty of Arts and the Board of the Faculty of Arts, University of Leeds
October 17, 1923 I recieved an increase in salary from £600 p.a. to £700 p.a
July 16, 1924 I was appointed Professor of English Language at University of Leeds. My Professorship begins October 1, 1924
1924 Birth of my third son Christopher
October 21, 1925 I submited my resignation from Leeds. My employment officially ends December 31, 1925
1925 I moved to Oxford, where I served as Rawlingson Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College for the next 24 years
1925 E.V. Gordon and I published our translation of Sir Gawain and the Greene Knight
1926 I met C.S. Lewis and the two enter into a lifelong friendship
1929 My fourth child, Priscilla, is born
circa 1933 I first begin telling my children of a funny little creature named Bilbo
circa 1933 I give W.P. Ker lecture at Glasgow University
1936 I completed The Hobbit
1936 I delivered my address "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" before the British Association
1937 The Hobbit is published, and I begin working on the "sequel"
1938 - 1939 I wrote "Leaf by Niggle"
1939 I delivered my lecture "On Fairy-Stories"
1945 I became Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford; a position he holds until his retirement in 1959
1947 "Leaf by Niggle" is published in The Dublin Review, a scholarly Catholic journal
1948 "Leaf by Niggle" is published
1948 The Lord of the Rings is completed
1949 Farmer Giles of Ham is published
1954 The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, the first two portions of The Lord of the Rings, are published
1955 The Return of the King, the final portion of The Lord of the Rings, is published
1957 I was to travel to the United States to accept honorary degrees from Marquette, Harvard, and several other universities, and to deliver a series of addresses. The trip was cancelled due to the ill health of my wife Edith. Tolkien never made the trip before my death in 1973.
1959 I retired my professorship at Oxford
1960's I was a collaborator in the translation of the Jerusalem Bible from the French (I did Job)
1962 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is published
1964 "Leaf by Niggle" and "On Fairy Stories" are published together in a single edition called Tree and Leaf
1965 Publication of American paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings
1967 Smith of Wotton Major and The Road Goes Ever On are published
1968 I move with my family to Poole near Bournemouth
November 29, 1971 My wife, Edith Tolkien dies after a short, but severe, illness attributed to an inflamed gall-bladder
1972 I returned to Oxford
1972 Receives CBE from the Queen
September 2, 1973 I died at the age of eighty-one in a private hospital in Bournemouth.
