In an effort to better figure Tolkien out, I've created a timeline of his life. It incorporates both his bibliography and professional data, as well as what was going on in his personal life. Of special note to me is his friendship with CS Lewis. I'm one of those people who likes things written down so that I can refer back to it often (guess it's the writer in me). I've been reading Tolkien's novels, essays and background material (like Beowulf and the Kavala) the past few months. When I have time, I've also been reading his "Letters" (compiled by Humphery Carpenter in 1981). The book offers a fascinating glimpse of the man behind the books, as well as background to The Lord of the Rings. Plus, it reveals some of his views towards fantasy and fairy tales, as well as allegory (which he seems to both despise and use). For anyone interested in his work, I'd recommend reading through his letters.
Jan. 3, 1892 Born
1908 Met Edith Mary Bratt, who was 3 years older, also an orphan
1909 (summer) Decided he was in love with Edith
1911 Tolkien and three friends, Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Smith, and Christopher Wiseman, formed a semi-secret society which they called “the T.C.B.S.”, the initials standing for “Tea Club and Barrovian Society”, alluding to their fondness for drinking tea in Barrow’s Stores near the school and, secretly, in the school library.
1911 (Summer) Tolkien went on holiday in Switzerland, a trip that he recollects vividly in a 1968 letter,[25] noting that Bilbo’s journey across the Misty Mountains (“including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods”) is directly based on his adventures as their party of 12 hiked from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and on to camp in the moraines beyond Mürren.
December 1914 T.C.B.S. held a “Council” in London, at Wiseman’s home
1911 October Tolkien began studying at Exeter College, Oxford. He initially studied Classics but changed to English Language
1913 Tolkien resumes correspondence with Edith, having obeyed his guardian’s decree that he wait until age 21. They are formally engaged on Jan. 13
1915 Tolkien graduated from Exeter College with Old Norse as special subject
March 22, 1916 Edith and Tolkien marry in Warwick, England, at Saint Mary Immaculate Catholic Church
June 4, 1916 Tokien arrives in France with the the British Expeditionary Force, 11th Service Battalion
Oct. 27, 1916 He comes down with trench fever, a disease carried by the lice which were common in the dugouts
Nov. 8, 1916 Tolkien was invalided to England. During his recovery in a cottage in Great Haywood, Staffordshire, he began to work on what he called The Book of Lost Tales, beginning with The Fall of Gondolin.
Nov. 17, 1917 First child, John Francis Reuel Tolkien, born. (Died Jan. 22, 2003)
1918 “By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.” Smith and Gilson were killed.
First civilian job at the Oxford English Dictionary, where he worked mainly on the history and etymology of words of Germanic origin beginning with the letter W
1920 post as Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds
Oct. 22 - Second son, Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien born (died 27 February 1984)
1924 Made professor at Leeds. While at Leeds he produced A Middle English Vocabulary and, with E. V. Gordon, a definitive edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both becoming academic standard works for many decades. He also translated Sir Gawain, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo
Nov. 21 - Third child Christopher John Reuel Tolkien born
1925 Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, with a fellowship at Pembroke College (to 1945). During his time at Pembroke, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings, whilst living at 20 Northmoor Road in North Oxford (where a blue plaque was placed in 2002).
Sir Gawain & The Green Knight, The Clarendon Press, Oxford
May 1927 Tolkien enrolled Lewis in the Kolbítar (“Coalbiters”: “those who lounge so close to the fire in winter that they ‘bite the coal’”), a club which read Icelandic sagas in the original Old Norse
June 18, 1929 Fourth child, Priscilla Mary Anne Reuel Tolkien, born
1930s The Inklings begin meeting
1931 CS Lewis converted to Christianity, largely due to Tolkien
1932 He published a philological essay on the name “Nodens”, following Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s unearthing of a Roman Asclepieion at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, in 1928.
Tolkien buys his first car, although he prefers a bicycle
1936 Academic publication: lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”
Songs for the Philologists. Privately printed in the Department of English, University College, London
1937 The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. George Allen and Unwin, London
1938 CS Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet (#1 of Space Triology), apparently written following a conversation with his friend J. R. R. Tolkien about these trends; Lewis agreed to write a “space travel” story and Tolkien a “time travel” one. Tolkien’s story, “The Lost Road”, a tale connecting his Middle-earth mythology and the modern world, was never completed. Lewis’s main character of Ransom is based in part on Tolkien, a fact that Tolkien himself alludes to in his Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien.
1939 The Reeve’s Tale. Ed.
1943 CS Lewis: Out of the Silent Plant (#2 of Space Triology)
1944 Sir Orfeo. The Academic Copying Office, Oxford, 1944. (A version edited by Tolkien. Printed anonymously.)
1945 Appointed to and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford (to 1959)
May 15: Charles Williams died
CS Lewis: That Hideous Strength (#3 of Space Triology)
1948 Tolkien completed The Lord of the Rings in 1948, close to a decade after the first sketches.
1949 Farmer Giles of Ham. George Allen and Unwin, London
The Inklings stop meeting
CS Lewis begins writing The Chronicles of Narnia (through 1954)
1950 The cessation of Tolkien’s frequent meetings with Lewis
1951 Second edition of The Hobbit
1954 First and second part of LOTR published, George Allen and Unwin, London
Tolkien received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland (of which U.C.D. was a constituent college).
1955 Third part of LOTR published, George Allen and Unwin, London
Lecture: English and Welsh
1956 CS Lewis married Joy Gresham (who died 4 years later of cancer)
1962 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book. George Allen and Unwin, London
Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle. Early English Text Society, Original Series No. 249. Oxford University Press, London, 1962. (An edition of the Rule for a female mediæval religious order.)
Nov. 22,1963 CS Lewis died (the same day JF Kennedy was assassinated and Aldous Huxley died)
1964 Tree and Leaf. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1964. (Reprints Tolkien’s lecture “On Fairy-Stories” and his short story “Leaf by Niggle”.)
1966 The Jerusalem Bible is published, which Tolkien helped translate
Third edition of The Hobbit
The Tolkien Reader. Ballantine, New York, (Contains “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorthelm’s Son”, Tree and Leaf, Farmer Giles of Ham and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.)
1967 Smith of Wootton Major. George Allen and Unwin
The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1967; George Allen and Unwin, London, 1968. (There was a second edition in 1978.)
Nov. 29, 1971 Edith died. Tolkien had the name Lúthien engraved on the stone at Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford. When Tolkien died 21 months later he was buried in the same grave, with Beren added to his name.
Jan. 1, 1972 Tolkien was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honours List
March 28, 1972 He received the insignia of the Order at Buckingham Palace
Sept. 2, 1973 Died at age 81
1974 Bilbo’s Last Song. Allen and Unwin, London, 1974. [As a poster; in book-form, Unwin Hyman, London, 1990.]
1975 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1975. (Contains Tolkien’s translations of the poems given in the title.)
1976 The first movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings appeared in 1978, an animated rotoscoping film directed by Ralph Bakshi with screenplay by the fantasy writer Peter S. Beagle.
The Father Christmas Letters. Ed. Baillie Tolkien. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1976; reprinted (with minor omissions) in three mini-columes, HarperCollins, London, 1994; as Letters from Father Christmas. HoughtonMifflin, Boston, and HarperCollins, London, 1995.
1977 The Simarillion is finally published.
An animated TV production of The Hobbit was made by Rankin-Bass
1978 The Silmarillion received the Locus Award for Best Fantasy novel
1979 Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1979. (Contains reproductions of all the pictures by Tolkien in previous Allen and Unwin Tolkien Calendars.) Revised edition, HarperCollins, London, 1992.
1980 Christopher Tolkien published a collection of more fragmentary material, under the title Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
An animated The Return of the King produced by Rankin-Bass
Poems and Stories. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1980. (A deluxe edition containing The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son”, “On Fairy-Stories”, “Leaf by Niggle”, Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major.) Includes the illustrations by Pauline Baynes. Reprinted (Non-deluxe edition), HarperCollins, London, 1992.
1981 Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. (Reissued with new index by Wayne G. Hammon and Christina Scull, HarperCollins, London, 1999)
The Old English ‘Exodus’. Ed. Joan Turville-Petre. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981. (Tolkien’s translation.)
1982 Mr. Bliss published, George Allen & Unwin, London
Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode. Ed. Alan Bliss. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1982. (Tolkien’s translations and commentaries.)
1983 The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. George Allen and Unwin, London
1985 The Lays of Beleriand. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. George Allen and Unwin, London
1988 New edition of Tree and Leaf published incorporating “Mythopoeia”, Unwin Hyman, London
1992 Sauron Defeated. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins, London, 1992
1993 Morgoth’s Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins, London, 1993
1994 The War of the Jewels. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins, London,
1996 The Peoples of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins, London
1998 Roverandom. Ed. Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond. HarperCollins, London
1999 50th anniversary edition published of Farmer Giles of Ham
2001 First Lord of the Ring movie released; filmed in New Zealand and directed by Peter Jackson.
2002 Second Lord of the Rings movie released
2003 Third and final Lord of the Rings movie released
2007 The Children of Húrin published by HarperCollins (in the UK and Canada) and Houghton Mifflin (in the US)
May 5 2009 The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
FAMILY
PARENTS Arthur Reuel Tolkien (1857–1896), an English bank manager, and his wife Mabel, née Suffield (1870–1904: she died of acute diabetes at age 34). Mabel Tolkien converted to Roman Catholicism in 1900 despite vehement protests by her Baptist family[18] who then stopped all financial assistance to her.
BROTHER Hilary Arthur Reuel, who was born on 17 February 1894. Grandson: Tim Tolkien (born Oct. 1962), sculptor
CHILDREN
John Francis Reuel Tolkien (17 November 1917 – 22 January 2003), a priest;
Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien (22 October 1920 – 27 February 1984). Married Joan Griffiths (1916-1982). CHILDREN: Michael George Reuel Tolkien (born 1943) is a British poet. Joanna. Judith.GRANDCHLDREN: From Michael: Catherine, born in 1969 and Ruth[24], born in 1982. He is married to the artist Rosemary Walters. From Joanna: Royd Baker (born 1969) is the great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien. He is a literary agent.
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (born 21 November 1924). He followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a lecturer and tutor in English Language at New College, Oxford from 1964 to 1975. Marries twice: to Faith Faulconbridge in 1928 and Baillie Tolkien, born Klass in Canada, in 1944. She was previously J. R. R. Tolkien’s secretary. CHILDREN: Faith -- Simon Mario Reuel Tolkien (born 1959) is a British barrister and novelist. From Baillie -- Adam Reuel Tolkien, born 1969, and Rachel Clare Reuel Tolkien, born 1971
Priscilla Mary Anne Reuel Tolkien (born 18 June 1929)
MISC
• aunt Jane’s farm of Bag End
• He could read by the age of four and could write fluently soon afterwards. His mother taught him.
• When he was stationed at Kingston upon Hull, he and Edith went walking in the woods at nearby Roos, and Edith began to dance for him in a clearing among the flowering hemlock: “ We walked in a wood where hemlock was growing, a sea of white flowers.” This incident inspired the account of the meeting of Beren and Lúthien, and Tolkien often referred to Edith as “my Lúthien”.
• The Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Marquette University’s John P. Raynor, S.J., Library in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, preserves many of Tolkien’s manuscripts
• Tolkien learned Latin, French, and German from his mother, and while at school he learned Middle English, Old English, Finnish, Gothic, Greek, Italian, Old Norse, Spanish, Welsh, and Medieval Welsh. He was also familiar with Danish, Dutch, Lombardic, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Middle Dutch, Middle High German, Middle Low German, Old High German, Old Slavonic, and Lithuanian.[151]
• Regular members of the Inklings: Its more regular members (many of them academics at the University) included J. R. R. “Tollers” Tolkien, C. S. “Jack” Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Christopher Tolkien (J. R. R. Tolkien’s son), Warren “Warnie” Lewis (C. S. Lewis’s elder brother), Roger Lancelyn Green, Adam Fox, Hugo Dyson, R. A. “Humphrey” Havard, J. A. W. Bennett, Lord David Cecil, and Nevill Coghill. Other less frequent attenders at their meetings included Percy Bates, Charles Leslie Wrenn, Colin Hardie, James Dundas-Grant, Jon Fromke, John Wain, R. B. McCallum, Gervase Mathew, and C. E. Stevens. The author E. R. Eddison also met the group at the invitation of C. S. Lewis. The group met between the early 1930s and 1949.
• The Eagle and Child pub (commonly known as the Bird and Baby or simply just the Bird) in Oxford where the Inklings met informally on Tuesday mornings during term.
WEBSITES
•The official website of the JRR Tolkien Estate: www.tolkienestate.com
• The Tolkien Society: www.tolkiensociety.org
• I've also got to confess I gleaned a lot of this from Wikipedia
