J.R.R. Tolkien Timeline

This article intends to list the main events of the life of J.R.R. Tolkien in a chronological order.

1892

• 3 January: J.R.R. Tolkien is born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (modern South Africa).
• 31 January: Tolkien is baptized at the Anglican cathedral in Bloemfontein.

1894

• 17 February: Tolkien's younger brother Hilary is born.

1895

• April: Tolkien's mother Mabel moves with her sons from South Africa to Birmingham, England.

1896

• 15 February: Tolkien's father Arthur Tolkien dies of rheumatic fever.
• Summer: Tolkien's mother moves with her sons to Sarehole.

1900

• June: Tolkien's mother is received into the Catholic Church.
• September: Tolkien begins attending King Edward's School.

1902

• Tolkien begins attending St. Philip's School.
• Father Francis Morgan of the Birmingham Oratory becomes a family friend of the Tolkiens.

1903

• January : Tolkien returns to King Edward's School, having won a Foundation Scholarship.

1904

• April: Mabel Tolkien is hospitalized with diabetes. Tolkien is sent to live with his aunt Jane Neave.
• June: Mabel Tolkien partially recovers and goes, with her sons, to Rednal in Worcestershire to convalesce.
• 14 November: Tolkien's mother dies after a relapse.

1905

• Tolkien and his brother go to live with their aunt Beatrice Suffield.
• Autumn: Tolkien meets his friend Christopher Wiseman at King Edward's.

1908

• Beginning of the year: Tolkien and Hilary move to the home of Louis Faulkner at 37 Duchess Road in Birmingham, where Tolkien meets Edith Bratt.

1909

• Summer: Tolkien and Edith Bratt fall in love.
• December: Father Francis Morgan learns of Tolkien and Edith's relationship and demands that it cease. Tolkien fails to win a University scholarship at Oxford.

1910

• January: Tolkien and his brother move into the home of Thomas Macsherry at 4 Highfield Road.
• 21 January: Tolkien and Edith have a clandestine meeting, which Father Francis learns of. He forbids Tolkien from any contact with Edith until he turns 21.
• December: Tolkien wins a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford.

1911

• Summer: Tolkien and several friends form the T.C.B.S.
• October: Tolkien begins studying at Exeter College, Oxford.

1915

• Tolkien graduates Oxford University with first-class honours.
• 15 July: Tolkien is commissioned as second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers

1916

• 22 March: Tolkien marries Edith Bratt.

1917

• 16 November: Birth of Tolkien's oldest son John.

1920

• Autumn: Tolkien becomes a reader in English language at the University of Leeds.

• 22 October: Birth of Tolkien's second son Michael.
• November: Tolkien leaves the army retaining his rank of lieutenant.

1924

• 21 November: Birth of Tolkien's third son Christopher.

1925

• Return to Oxford as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and then Merton Professor of English Language and Literature

1929

• 18 June: Birth of Tolkien's daughter Priscilla.

1937

• 21 September: Publication of The Hobbit.

1954

• 29 July: Publication of The Fellowship of the Ring.
• 11 November: Publication of The Two Towers.

1955

• 20 October: Publication of The Return of the King.

1959

• Tolkien retires from Oxford.

1971

• 29 November: Tolkien's wife Edith dies at the age of 82.

1972

• Tolkien is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• Tolkien receives an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University.

1973

• 2 September: J.R.R. Tolkien dies at the age of 81.