J.R.R. Tolkien Timeline

Jan. 3, 1892: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is born Bloemfontein, South Africa, to Mabel Suffield and Arthur Reuel Tolkien.

Jan. 31, 1892: Christened in the Bloemfontein Cathedral.

Feb.17, 1894: His brother is Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien born.

April 1895: Mabel Tolkien boards the SS Guelph with her two boys and sails to England. Her husband will join them when opportunity permits.

Feb.15, 1896: Arthur Reuel Tolkien dies of a severe hemorrhage. For months he has been suffering from rheumatic fever. He never got a chance to reunite with his family.

1896: The family moves from Birmingham to the town of Sarehole.

Autumn 1899: Writes the entrance exam for King Edwards School but fails.

September 1900: Retakes the entrance exam for King Edwards School and is accepted. The family moves to Moseley to be closer to King Edwards School.

Nov. 14, 1904: His mother Mabel Tolkien dies after being in a diabetic coma for six days.

Dec. 1904: Aunt Beatrice Suffield takes him in with his brother.

1908: Begins his first term at Oxford.

Dec. 17, 1910: Gets an Open Classical Exhibition to Exeter College.

1915: Gets a First Class Honours degree in English Language and Literature.

Late 1915: Commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Mar. 22, 1916: Marries Edith Bratt.

June 1916: The Lancashire Fusiliers send him to France where, with the rank of second Lieutenant, he sees action in Somme.

Late 1916: Returns from France suffering from a bad case of shell shock.

1917: First son John is born.

1919: Works as an assistant on the Oxford English Dictionary.

1920: Second son Michael is born.

1924: Third son Christopher is born.

Oct.1, 1924: Begins English Professorship at University of Leeds.

1925: Tolkien and E.V. Gordon translate, and publish, Sir Gawain and the Greene Knight.

Dec.31, 1925: Officially resigns from University of Leeds.

1926: Meets C.S. Lewis and they become the best of friends.

1929: Fourth child Priscilla is born.

1936: Completes the novel The Hobbit.

1937: Publishes The Hobbit.

1947: The Dublin Review, a scholarly Catholic journal, publishes Leaf by Niggle.

1949: Completes the novel The Lord of the Rings.

1954: Publishes The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, the first two novels of the The Lord of the Rings Triolgy.

1955: Publishes The Return of the King, the final installment of The Lord of the Rings Triolgy.

1962: Publishes The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

1967: Publishes Smith of Wotton Major and The Road Goes.

1971: Led Zeppelin release an album inspired by Tolkien.

Nov. 29, 1971: His wife Edith Tolkien dies after a painful battle with an illness connected to an inflamed gall bladder.

Sept. 2, 1973: Dies in a private hospital in Bournemouth.