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Home
Humans
Human History
J.R.R Tolkien
Gallery
Humor
Forum
Guestbook
Fun & Games
Extra
Media
Fan Art
Ithil Ross Awards
About The site
Affiliates & Nominations
Guestmap
RANDOM SITE
See All STATISTICS
online
Site Created
On 24/03/2005
My fab Host:Isithrade Code by Zimrahil
Web Counter
J.R.R. Tolkien Biograpgy
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, the capital of the then-existing Orange Free State, a part of the area which is now South Africa. His parents were English- his father, Arthur Tolkien, had moved to Bloemfontein after accepting a position as manager of a new English bank there. Two years after their first son was born, Mabel Tolkien gave birth to another son, named Hilary (1894). In 1895, Mabel and her two sons moved back to Birmingham, England because the climate in Africa wasn't good for the babies and they were sickly. Arthur Tolkien stayed behind and planned to join them when he could resign from his job or stay until the children were well enough to return to Bloemfontein. However, Arthur Tolkien never got to see his family again- he died on February 15, 1896 in Bloemfontein because of complications of the flu. Mabel, John Ronald and Hilary eventually settled in the small hamlet of Sarehole, near Birmingham. John loved it in Sarehole, and it was this place that he eventually turned into the hobbit's beloved land of the Shire. In 1903, Tolkien won a scholarship to King Edward VI School in Birmingham, which was the finest secondary school in the area. His mother was very proud of him, as she had been in charge of her sons' education before that. However, unfortunately, only a year later, Mabel also died. She had apparently been sick for some time and already arranged for Father Morgan, the priest at the Birmingham Oratory. Mabel was afraid if the boys went to live with their grandparents, who were Protestant, they wouldn't continue in the Catholic faith. After their mother's death, Father Morgan obtained lodging for the boys at a private boarding house in Birmingham. Tolkien was for the most part happy here and Father Morgan and the boys got along well. After finishing King Edward VI school, Tolkien went on to Oxford (Exeter College). After graduating from Oxford in 1915 (with a First Class Honours degree in English Language and Literature), he went on to join the British army. In 1916, when Tolkien was home in England on leave, he married Edith Bratt. After returning to the army, he fought in the battle of the Somme and was eventually discharged and spent a lot of time in the hospital, suffering from "trench fever," or "shell shock." This same year-1917- Tolkien's first son was born. He was named John Francis Reuel (all Tolkien's children would share his second middle name-Reuel). After his recovery from "shell shock," he got a job as a staff member of the New English Dictionary, which lasted from 1918 to 1920. In 1920, his second son, Michael Hilary Reuel, was born. This same year, he also got a job at University of Leeds- first as a Reader, but eventually Tolkien became a Professor of the English language. Tolkien's third son, Christopher Reuel, was born in 1924. In 1925, Tolkien went to back to Oxford to teach as a Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. It was in 1926 that Tolkien met C.S. Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia) and the two became life-long friends. They had a lot in common- both were veterans of the war, both loved English and writing, both were very religious. In 1929, Tolkien's last child, Priscilla Anne Reuel, was born. In 1945, Tolkien took the job of Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford. He worked there until 1959. Tolkien had always been interested in languages- he spent a lot of time as a child inventing his own. His focus as a professor was the study of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) and its relation to other languages that shared certain similarities (Old Norse, Old German, and Gothic). He was especially interested in the dialects of Mercia, the part of England, around Sarehole and Birmingham, in which he grew up and lived. He was an expert of the literature that were written in these languages. It was in 1937 that Tolkien published The Hobbit. He had been telling his children the story of a funny little creature named Bilbo for so long he finally turned it into a children's book. However, when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was published in 1954 and 1955, it was published as an adult's book. It was a surprise to many when The Lord of the Rings was such a success- it an adult's book that was a continuation of a children's story, plus, the three books of the trilogy put together was longer than War and Peace. However, Tolkien's series was soon a best-seller in both the U.S. and Britain. The sales of The Lord of the Rings, as well as the Hobbit (which found it's way to the adult fiction shelves), were unprecedented- stores reported that the sales eclipsed such popular writers as Kurt Vonnegut and William Golding. Graffiti appeared everywhere- reading "Frodo Lives!" or "Gandalf for President" or "Reading Tolkien Can Be Hobbit-Forming." Some say imitation is the best form of flattery- but graffiti has to be high ranking too! Tolkien followed his success with The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in 1962, as well as Smith of Wotton Major and The Road Goes Ever On in 1967. In 1968, the Tolkiens moved to Poole, England, which is near Bournemouth, because there was too much noise and publicity in Oxford. They needed to get away to somewhere more quiet. Edith Tolkien, who had been ill for quite some time, finally died in 1971. They had been married 55 years and the loss was a great one to Tolkien. In 1972, Tolkien was made a member of the Order of the British Empire-which is one step below knighthood. The medal he received was given to him by Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham Palace. If he had lived longer, he probably would have been knighted as well. The next year, however, J.R.R. Tolkien died-on September 2, 1973, due to pneumonia complicated by a gastric ulcer. His last words to his daughter, at a meeting a few days earlier, were, "I feel on top of the world!" And indeed, his works are still loved and cherished by people all over the world (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings has been translated into 12 languages). Edith and Ronald: Luthien and Beren
After the death of their mother, Mabel, John Ronald and his brother Hillary were left in the care of catholic priest Father Francis Morgan. Mabel had
been converted to Catholicism and would not allow her sons to be brought up any other way
Father Morgan found the two teenagers lodgings at Dutchess Road, Birmingham. It was here that John Ronald met and fell in love with Edith Bratt, another lodger. She was attractive, small and slender with grey eyes like Luthien Tinuviel, but she was also three years older than John Ronald and she was not catholic. Concerned for John Ronald's education, Father Morgan forbade him to see or have any contact with her until he was 21. John Ronald did not give up on his love, and the midnight beginning his 21st birthday, he wrote to her again, saying, ?How long will it be before we can be joined together before God and the world??
When Edith replied that she was engaged to someone else, John Ronald quickly traveled to see her. Edith broke off the engagement and was engaged to ?Ronald? when he was 22, after she became a Roman Catholic. The faith was a source of contention in the marriage.
John Ronal married Edith the year after graduating from Exter College, Oxford in 1915, and they enjoyed a 56-year marriage.
Much of John Ronald's feelings for his wife were expressed so eloquently and beautifully in his letters. Most of his letters written to her while he was away at training and the war have not been published due to their personal nature, but in some he sent her drafts and poems in preference to his literary friends. On 26th of November 1915, he sent Edith a poem he had written while in training at Rugdey Camp in Staffordshire. The poem was ?Kortirion? and was about elves and fairies and their magical home.
John Ronald wrote of his wife to his son Michael in a letter dated the 8th August 1941
??I fell in love with your mother at the age of eighteen. Quite genuinely, as has been shown - though of course defects of character and temperament have caused me often to fall below the ideal with which I started. Your mother was older than I, and not a Catholic. Altogether unfortunate, as viewed by a guardian?these things are absorbing and nervously exhausting. I was a very clever boy n the throws of work for (a very necessary) Oxford scholarship. The combined tensions nearly produced a breakdown. I muffed my exams and though?I ought to have got a good scholarship, I only landed by the skin of my teeth an exhibition of ?60 at Exter?
?However, trouble arose and I had to choose between disobeying and grieving (or deceiving) a guardian who had been a father, more than most fathers, but without any obligation, and ?dropping' the love-affair until I was 21. I don't regret my decision, though it was very hard on my lover. But that was not my fault. She was perfectly free and under no vow to me, and I should have had no just complaint?if she had got married to someone else. For nearly three years I did not see or write to my lover. It was extremely hard, painful and bitter, especially at first? I fell back into folly and slackness and misspent a good deal of my first year at College?
?On the night of my 21st birthday I wrote again to your mother - Jan. 3 1913. On Jan. 8th I went back to her and became engaged, and informed an astounded family.?
John Ronald does not mention that Edith was engaged to someone else at the time, but broke it off to marry him.
John Ronald's love for his wife was never so touching as when he wrote about her after her death:
On 29th November 1971 John Ronald wrote to William Carter
?I am grieved to tell you that my wife died this morning. Her courage and determination (of which you speak truly) carried her through to what seemed a recovery, but a sudden relapse occurred which she fought for nearly three days in vain. She died at last, in peace.
?I am utterly bereaved, and cannot yet lift up heart??
Two months later on 24th January 1972, John Ronald wrote to his son Michael:
??I do not feel quite real or whole, and in a sense there is no one to talk to?we had shared all joys and griefs, and all opinions (in agreement or otherwise) so that I often feel myself thinking ?I must tell Edith about this' - and then suddenly I feel like a castaway left on a barren island under a heedless sky after the loss of a great ship??
??I met the Luthien Tinuviel of my own personal ?romance' with her long dark hair, fair face and starry eyes, and beautiful voice?. But now she has gone before Beren, leaving him indeed one-handed, but he has no power to move the inexorable Mandos??
About the grave inscription, he wrote on 11th July 1972:
?I have never called Edith Luthien - but she was the source of the story that in time became the chief part of The Silmarilion. It was first conceived in a woodland glade filled with hemlocks at Roos in Yorkshire??
??For ever (especially when alone) we still met in the woodland glade, and went hand in hand many times to escape the shadow of imminent death before our last parting.?
John Ronald only outlived his wife by less than two years. Both are buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford.
With Children
The debate continues on whether Tolkien's works are children's books, but, no matter whom his books are meant for, most of them began as
bedtime stories. Tolkien's four children were the first to hear many of the stories that have now become classics. The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil both began as tales to amuse Tolkien's children, among many other stories, some published and some not.
Tolkien had a close relationship with all of his children. To help his oldest son, John, fall asleep, Tolkien told him elaborate stories about Carrots, a red haired boy who went on adventures through a cuckoo clock, and about Bill Stickers, a man who could get away with anything. These stories were never recorded. During a vacation at Filey, in 1925, Tolkien's second son, Michael lost his favorite toy, which inspired Tolkien to come up with the story of Roverrandom.
This tale told of a dog that was turned into a toy by a wizard, was lost then turned back into a dog and went on great adventures to the moon. Roverrandom was offered as a possible sequel to the Hobbit, but publishers turned it down, and Tolkien never offered it again.
At Christmastime, Tolkien went to great lengths, creating letters from Santa Claus for each of his children. The letters featured characters that lived with Santa, such as a polar bear, an elf, Ilbereth, who was Santa's secretary, and Snow Man, who was a guard. Tolkien customized each letter with the handwriting of the character: the polar bear wrote in runes, Snow Man in all caps, Ilbereth in a flowing script and Santa in a shaky script.
Tolkien believed deeply in Catholicism, and his oldest son Jonathan Francis, who was named for Tolkien's former guardian Father Francis Xavier, shared this faith. He entered the seminary and studied in Rome, returning to England as a priest. The next youngest sons, Michael Hilary Reuel and Christopher Reuel followed in the footsteps of their father, enlisting in the Royal Air Force and later becoming educators. They both attended Trinity College. Christopher is best known for finishing his father's work on the Silmarillion, which was published in 1977. Tolkien's youngest child and only daughter, Priscilla, attended Lady Margaret Hall and became a social worker.
History of Tolkien Name His father Arthur Tolkien died when Ronald was four years old. His grandfather John Benjamin Tolkien was so grieved by the death of his son that he died six months later. Ronald didn't have the chance to spend much time with the family of his father's side. But there still was aunt Grace, his father's younger sister, who told him the family tales. According to aunt Grace the Tolkien family was of German origin and the original name of the family would have been ?von Hohenzollern'. George von Hohenzollern fought at the side of archduke Ferdinand of Ostrich during the siege of Vienna in 1529. He showed a lot of courage when he organized an attack on the Turkish all by himself and for that reason he was given the nickname ?Tollkuhn', which means ?very impulsive'. It was also speculated that the family was connected to French nobility by marriage and there was a French version of the nickname, ?du Temeraire'. The Tolkien family never agreed about why and when their forefathers came to England, so there are two versions. In the first version it is told the Tolkien family came to England in 1756 to escape from the Prussic invasion of Saxons . The more romantic members of the family said one of the ?du Temeraires' crossed the Channel in 1794 to escape the guillotine and changed his name to a more English version of the German nickname ?Tolkien'.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, the capital of the then-existing Orange Free State, a part of the area which is now South Africa. His parents were English- his father, Arthur Tolkien, had moved to Bloemfontein after accepting a position as manager of a new English bank there. Two years after their first son was born, Mabel Tolkien gave birth to another son, named Hilary (1894). In 1895, Mabel and her two sons moved back to Birmingham, England because the climate in Africa wasn't good for the babies and they were sickly. Arthur Tolkien stayed behind and planned to join them when he could resign from his job or stay until the children were well enough to return to Bloemfontein. However, Arthur Tolkien never got to see his family again- he died on February 15, 1896 in Bloemfontein because of complications of the flu. Mabel, John Ronald and Hilary eventually settled in the small hamlet of Sarehole, near Birmingham. John loved it in Sarehole, and it was this place that he eventually turned into the hobbit's beloved land of the Shire. In 1903, Tolkien won a scholarship to King Edward VI School in Birmingham, which was the finest secondary school in the area. His mother was very proud of him, as she had been in charge of her sons' education before that. However, unfortunately, only a year later, Mabel also died. She had apparently been sick for some time and already arranged for Father Morgan, the priest at the Birmingham Oratory. Mabel was afraid if the boys went to live with their grandparents, who were Protestant, they wouldn't continue in the Catholic faith. After their mother's death, Father Morgan obtained lodging for the boys at a private boarding house in Birmingham. Tolkien was for the most part happy here and Father Morgan and the boys got along well. After finishing King Edward VI school, Tolkien went on to Oxford (Exeter College). After graduating from Oxford in 1915 (with a First Class Honours degree in English Language and Literature), he went on to join the British army. In 1916, when Tolkien was home in England on leave, he married Edith Bratt. After returning to the army, he fought in the battle of the Somme and was eventually discharged and spent a lot of time in the hospital, suffering from "trench fever," or "shell shock." This same year-1917- Tolkien's first son was born. He was named John Francis Reuel (all Tolkien's children would share his second middle name-Reuel). After his recovery from "shell shock," he got a job as a staff member of the New English Dictionary, which lasted from 1918 to 1920. In 1920, his second son, Michael Hilary Reuel, was born. This same year, he also got a job at University of Leeds- first as a Reader, but eventually Tolkien became a Professor of the English language. Tolkien's third son, Christopher Reuel, was born in 1924. In 1925, Tolkien went to back to Oxford to teach as a Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. It was in 1926 that Tolkien met C.S. Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia) and the two became life-long friends. They had a lot in common- both were veterans of the war, both loved English and writing, both were very religious. In 1929, Tolkien's last child, Priscilla Anne Reuel, was born. In 1945, Tolkien took the job of Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford. He worked there until 1959. Tolkien had always been interested in languages- he spent a lot of time as a child inventing his own. His focus as a professor was the study of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) and its relation to other languages that shared certain similarities (Old Norse, Old German, and Gothic). He was especially interested in the dialects of Mercia, the part of England, around Sarehole and Birmingham, in which he grew up and lived. He was an expert of the literature that were written in these languages. It was in 1937 that Tolkien published The Hobbit. He had been telling his children the story of a funny little creature named Bilbo for so long he finally turned it into a children's book. However, when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was published in 1954 and 1955, it was published as an adult's book. It was a surprise to many when The Lord of the Rings was such a success- it an adult's book that was a continuation of a children's story, plus, the three books of the trilogy put together was longer than War and Peace. However, Tolkien's series was soon a best-seller in both the U.S. and Britain. The sales of The Lord of the Rings, as well as the Hobbit (which found it's way to the adult fiction shelves), were unprecedented- stores reported that the sales eclipsed such popular writers as Kurt Vonnegut and William Golding. Graffiti appeared everywhere- reading "Frodo Lives!" or "Gandalf for President" or "Reading Tolkien Can Be Hobbit-Forming." Some say imitation is the best form of flattery- but graffiti has to be high ranking too! Tolkien followed his success with The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in 1962, as well as Smith of Wotton Major and The Road Goes Ever On in 1967. In 1968, the Tolkiens moved to Poole, England, which is near Bournemouth, because there was too much noise and publicity in Oxford. They needed to get away to somewhere more quiet. Edith Tolkien, who had been ill for quite some time, finally died in 1971. They had been married 55 years and the loss was a great one to Tolkien. In 1972, Tolkien was made a member of the Order of the British Empire-which is one step below knighthood. The medal he received was given to him by Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham Palace. If he had lived longer, he probably would have been knighted as well. The next year, however, J.R.R. Tolkien died-on September 2, 1973, due to pneumonia complicated by a gastric ulcer. His last words to his daughter, at a meeting a few days earlier, were, "I feel on top of the world!" And indeed, his works are still loved and cherished by people all over the world (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings has been translated into 12 languages). Edith and Ronald: Luthien and Beren
After the death of their mother, Mabel, John Ronald and his brother Hillary were left in the care of catholic priest Father Francis Morgan. Mabel had
been converted to Catholicism and would not allow her sons to be brought up any other wayFather Morgan found the two teenagers lodgings at Dutchess Road, Birmingham. It was here that John Ronald met and fell in love with Edith Bratt, another lodger. She was attractive, small and slender with grey eyes like Luthien Tinuviel, but she was also three years older than John Ronald and she was not catholic. Concerned for John Ronald's education, Father Morgan forbade him to see or have any contact with her until he was 21. John Ronald did not give up on his love, and the midnight beginning his 21st birthday, he wrote to her again, saying, ?How long will it be before we can be joined together before God and the world??
When Edith replied that she was engaged to someone else, John Ronald quickly traveled to see her. Edith broke off the engagement and was engaged to ?Ronald? when he was 22, after she became a Roman Catholic. The faith was a source of contention in the marriage.
John Ronal married Edith the year after graduating from Exter College, Oxford in 1915, and they enjoyed a 56-year marriage.
Much of John Ronald's feelings for his wife were expressed so eloquently and beautifully in his letters. Most of his letters written to her while he was away at training and the war have not been published due to their personal nature, but in some he sent her drafts and poems in preference to his literary friends. On 26th of November 1915, he sent Edith a poem he had written while in training at Rugdey Camp in Staffordshire. The poem was ?Kortirion? and was about elves and fairies and their magical home.
John Ronald wrote of his wife to his son Michael in a letter dated the 8th August 1941
??I fell in love with your mother at the age of eighteen. Quite genuinely, as has been shown - though of course defects of character and temperament have caused me often to fall below the ideal with which I started. Your mother was older than I, and not a Catholic. Altogether unfortunate, as viewed by a guardian?these things are absorbing and nervously exhausting. I was a very clever boy n the throws of work for (a very necessary) Oxford scholarship. The combined tensions nearly produced a breakdown. I muffed my exams and though?I ought to have got a good scholarship, I only landed by the skin of my teeth an exhibition of ?60 at Exter?
?However, trouble arose and I had to choose between disobeying and grieving (or deceiving) a guardian who had been a father, more than most fathers, but without any obligation, and ?dropping' the love-affair until I was 21. I don't regret my decision, though it was very hard on my lover. But that was not my fault. She was perfectly free and under no vow to me, and I should have had no just complaint?if she had got married to someone else. For nearly three years I did not see or write to my lover. It was extremely hard, painful and bitter, especially at first? I fell back into folly and slackness and misspent a good deal of my first year at College?
?On the night of my 21st birthday I wrote again to your mother - Jan. 3 1913. On Jan. 8th I went back to her and became engaged, and informed an astounded family.?
John Ronald does not mention that Edith was engaged to someone else at the time, but broke it off to marry him.
John Ronald's love for his wife was never so touching as when he wrote about her after her death:
On 29th November 1971 John Ronald wrote to William Carter
?I am grieved to tell you that my wife died this morning. Her courage and determination (of which you speak truly) carried her through to what seemed a recovery, but a sudden relapse occurred which she fought for nearly three days in vain. She died at last, in peace.
?I am utterly bereaved, and cannot yet lift up heart??
Two months later on 24th January 1972, John Ronald wrote to his son Michael:
??I do not feel quite real or whole, and in a sense there is no one to talk to?we had shared all joys and griefs, and all opinions (in agreement or otherwise) so that I often feel myself thinking ?I must tell Edith about this' - and then suddenly I feel like a castaway left on a barren island under a heedless sky after the loss of a great ship??
??I met the Luthien Tinuviel of my own personal ?romance' with her long dark hair, fair face and starry eyes, and beautiful voice?. But now she has gone before Beren, leaving him indeed one-handed, but he has no power to move the inexorable Mandos??
About the grave inscription, he wrote on 11th July 1972:
?I have never called Edith Luthien - but she was the source of the story that in time became the chief part of The Silmarilion. It was first conceived in a woodland glade filled with hemlocks at Roos in Yorkshire??
??For ever (especially when alone) we still met in the woodland glade, and went hand in hand many times to escape the shadow of imminent death before our last parting.?
John Ronald only outlived his wife by less than two years. Both are buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford.
With Children
The debate continues on whether Tolkien's works are children's books, but, no matter whom his books are meant for, most of them began as
bedtime stories. Tolkien's four children were the first to hear many of the stories that have now become classics. The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil both began as tales to amuse Tolkien's children, among many other stories, some published and some not. Tolkien had a close relationship with all of his children. To help his oldest son, John, fall asleep, Tolkien told him elaborate stories about Carrots, a red haired boy who went on adventures through a cuckoo clock, and about Bill Stickers, a man who could get away with anything. These stories were never recorded. During a vacation at Filey, in 1925, Tolkien's second son, Michael lost his favorite toy, which inspired Tolkien to come up with the story of Roverrandom.
This tale told of a dog that was turned into a toy by a wizard, was lost then turned back into a dog and went on great adventures to the moon. Roverrandom was offered as a possible sequel to the Hobbit, but publishers turned it down, and Tolkien never offered it again.
At Christmastime, Tolkien went to great lengths, creating letters from Santa Claus for each of his children. The letters featured characters that lived with Santa, such as a polar bear, an elf, Ilbereth, who was Santa's secretary, and Snow Man, who was a guard. Tolkien customized each letter with the handwriting of the character: the polar bear wrote in runes, Snow Man in all caps, Ilbereth in a flowing script and Santa in a shaky script.
Tolkien believed deeply in Catholicism, and his oldest son Jonathan Francis, who was named for Tolkien's former guardian Father Francis Xavier, shared this faith. He entered the seminary and studied in Rome, returning to England as a priest. The next youngest sons, Michael Hilary Reuel and Christopher Reuel followed in the footsteps of their father, enlisting in the Royal Air Force and later becoming educators. They both attended Trinity College. Christopher is best known for finishing his father's work on the Silmarillion, which was published in 1977. Tolkien's youngest child and only daughter, Priscilla, attended Lady Margaret Hall and became a social worker.
History of Tolkien Name His father Arthur Tolkien died when Ronald was four years old. His grandfather John Benjamin Tolkien was so grieved by the death of his son that he died six months later. Ronald didn't have the chance to spend much time with the family of his father's side. But there still was aunt Grace, his father's younger sister, who told him the family tales. According to aunt Grace the Tolkien family was of German origin and the original name of the family would have been ?von Hohenzollern'. George von Hohenzollern fought at the side of archduke Ferdinand of Ostrich during the siege of Vienna in 1529. He showed a lot of courage when he organized an attack on the Turkish all by himself and for that reason he was given the nickname ?Tollkuhn', which means ?very impulsive'. It was also speculated that the family was connected to French nobility by marriage and there was a French version of the nickname, ?du Temeraire'. The Tolkien family never agreed about why and when their forefathers came to England, so there are two versions. In the first version it is told the Tolkien family came to England in 1756 to escape from the Prussic invasion of Saxons . The more romantic members of the family said one of the ?du Temeraires' crossed the Channel in 1794 to escape the guillotine and changed his name to a more English version of the German nickname ?Tolkien'.