The Beginnings

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South America on January 3, 1892. Tolkien lived in South Africa for four years, up until the death of his father Arthur Reuel Tolkien. At that point he, his mother, and his borther moved to England where his parents were originally from. He was sent to King Edwards School where his lingustic imagination was sparked by coal trucks bearing the names of their destinations such as "Nantyglo" and "Senghenydd". Tolkiens mother, Mabel, was told that she had diabetes and died that year, leaving Ronald and his brother destitute. At that point their preist, Father Francis made sure that the boys spiritual and material wellfare were assured. Later they would boarded by an aunt. Ronald started to excell in laguages such as Latin, Greek, Gothic, and Finnish. These would later become the influences in the many languages he would go on to create. At the boarding house he would meet his eventual wife, Edith Bratt. Father Francis forbid Ronald to see Edith until he was twenty-one. Obliged, Ronald went to Exeter College were de dived into his languages and studies. After he was twenty-one Ronald picked up his relationship with Edith where he had left off. Edith had converted to Catholicism to be with Ronald and they moved together to Warwick. Then World War I had begun. Tolkien didn't enlist for the war at first, instead he went to Oxford to recieve a first-class degree in 1915. After this Ronald enlisted for the war. Hearing news that he was to be deployed to combat in France, Ronald and Edith were married. Ronald eventually succumbed to "trench fever" and was removed from combat. During this time Ronald began working on what would later become his most famous stories. When the Armistic was signed, ending World War I, Ronald began to look for work. He found a position at the University of Leeds. Tolkien academic career was not very remarkable as he took a role in mostly academic politics and administration. Ronald stories had begun to take shape in his writing, but were really felt out as bedtime stories for his children. Tolkien eventually finished his book The Hobbit, which was published in 1937 and was an instant success. He was asked to write a sequel to The Hobbit that later became The Lord of the Rings. After a cult-like following of fans bothered him to the poind of moving and changing his telphone number. He eventually retired in 1959 to live with Edith in a quiet, elderly town of Bournemouth. After Edith Died in 1971, rondald retured to Oxford wher he died two years later on September 2, 1973