The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 1: Chronology

18 June 1913 Tolkien sketches the gardens of Pageant House, Warwick (Pageant House Gardens, Warwick, see Artist and Illustrator, fig. 14).

28 June–1 July 1913 Tolkien takes up Gilson’s invitation of 12 June that they attend the King Edward’s School Sports. He spends these days with the Gilson family at Marston Green. See note.

At least 2–12 July 1913 Tolkien stays at Barnt Green with the Incledons. He makes several drawings and watercolours, including views of the Incledons’ cottage and garden and of foxgloves in a nearby wood (Artist and Illustrator, figs. 17–18). He also paints the view King’s Norton from Bilberry Hill (Artist and Illustrator, fig. 16). Tolkien now begins to use a large sketchbook, at the beginning of which he copies, probably from postcards, views of Broad Street, Oxford and the Dining Hall at Exeter College, and makes a sketch of the cottage at Barnt Green.

?Late July 1913 Tolkien visits Phoenix Farm. He draws Phoenix Farm from Gedling, a view seen from a distance. Possibly at this time, though more likely in 1914, he draws another, closer view of the farm (Phoenix Farm, Gedling, see Artist and Illustrator, fig. 15). A third drawing of Phoenix Farm by Tolkien, Lamb’s Farm, Gedling, Notts (its title referring to the farmer who worked the land for years before Jane Neave), may date from 1913 as well. – Tolkien is hired by a Mr Killion to accompany two Mexican boys, Ventura and José Pablo Martínez del Río, to *France to join their brother, Eustaquio Martínez del Río, and their aunts, Ángela and Julia, who lived in Paris, and while in France to act as their escort and tutor. See note.

29 July 1913 At Charing Cross station Tolkien speaks with Mr Killion, but there seem to be no plans to govern the work he is about to do. He is introduced to Ventura and José, who attend the Roman Catholic school at *Stonyhurst in Lancashire. ‘They are quite jolly & good & most submissive and quiet especially little José who never speaks’ (letter to Edith Bratt, 29 July 1913, courtesy of Christopher Tolkien).

30 July 1913 Tolkien, Ventura, and José arrive in Paris. They are met by the boys’ aunts at the Gare du Nord, who weep and greet the boys so volubly that Tolkien must lose his temper to get them into a taxi. Their intended hotel, the Hôtel de l’Athenée, being closed, they go to the Hôtel Plaza. Later they will move to the Hôtel des Champs-Elysées. ‘The boys really are most excellent & the smallest one [Eustaquio] … who has just come from Mexico, is the nicest child I have ever met, I think’ (letter to Edith Bratt, 30 July 1913, courtesy of Christopher Tolkien).

31 July–12 August 1913 While in France and with the Mexican boys, Tolkien has to speak mainly Spanish or French, in neither of which is he fluent. Although he enjoys seeing Paris, the visit reinforces his pre-existing dislike for the inhabitants of France and their language. He feels a deep grudge against the Norman Conquest, which he thinks has done so much to destroy Anglo-Saxon culture and to adulterate the English language. On 5 or 6 August the aunts decide to go to Brittany, and Tolkien looks forward to visiting that Celtic area with its close ties to Wales and the Welsh language. But on 10 August Tolkien, the boys, and the elder of the aunts, Ángela, go only to Dinard, a fashionable seaside resort. Tolkien writes to Edith: ‘Brittany! And to see nothing but trippers and dirty papers and bathing machines’ (quoted in Biography, p. 67).

13 August 1913 Ángela is struck by a car and dies soon afterward. Her last wish is to be returned to her native Mexico. Tolkien sends the news to Mr Killion by telegram, and presumably also contacts Julia.

14 August 1913 Julia arrives in Dinard in the morning; Tolkien meets her at the station. Although the owners of the hotel in which they have been staying are kind at first, their attitude changes when they learn that the party are Roman Catholics. Tolkien and Ventura return to Paris on the night train to make mortuary arrangements.

15 August 1913 Tolkien writes from the Hôtel des Champs-Elysées to Mr Killion regarding the problems he is encountering following the death of Ángela. Julia wishes to return to Mexico at once with the boys. Tolkien speculates that if the boys go Mr Killion (apparently their guardian) may need someone to bring Ventura and José back from Mexico in time for January term at Stonyhurst, in which case he offers his ‘hypothetical services’ (private collection).

16 August 1913 Tolkien and Ventura dine with Madame Cervantes, a helpful friend resident in Paris.

17 August 1913 Tolkien writes again to Mr Killion, noting that he and Ventura have been to Mass and Communion at the English church in Paris, and to Mass at the Spanish church. He and Ventura again dine with Madame Cervantes.

18 August 1913 Tolkien and Ventura rise at 3.00 a.m. in order to meet Ángela’s coffin at Montparnasse on the 4.00 a.m. train. They reach the station at 3.45, but the train is late, and in fact the coffin arrives on a still later train at 5.15 a.m., and conveyances for it at 6.45. Julia arrives in Paris with José and Eustaquio. Tolkien writes to Mr Killion, convinced that the boys should not return to Mexico but continue their education at Stonyhurst. – Tolkien writes to Edith: ‘There is no fear of my going to Mexico. Mr Killion will not, I am confident, allow the two elder boys – nor if possible the younger boy – to go back: & in any case I shall not go’ (courtesy of Christopher Tolkien).

20 August 1913 Tolkien writes to Mr Killion, concerned with mourning clothes for the boys and with their education while abroad.

Rushing about sight-seeing or any obvious form of enjoyment is of course out of the question for a while so I have tried to find out what of the best, most readable, and least palpably ‘instructive’ of boys books they haven’t read. Many of these I have got in cheap editions … such as King Solomon’s Mines, Kim and so forth. José, the most thoughtful of the three, was very anxious to have a huge tome that he caught sight of … ‘Mexico the Land of Unrest’ a meticulous history (by an Englishman I think) of the revolution – but I thought it a little too hard for his digestion yet.

He is now reading The White Company.

There is no accommodation in this hotel for children so at their earnest entreaties I also got them some draughts of which they are very fond. [private collection]

He has had a long talk with José on top of the Arc de Triomphe on the merits of returning to Stonyhurst, and otherwise has tried to lead the boys to ‘take the sensible view with content, in order not to upset next term with pinings’. He appraises each boy’s character. Tolkien and the boys are to return to England on 30 August, unless Mr Killion has other plans. He has spent ‘a long day in steamship companies’ offices, banks and so forth’.

29 August 1913 Tolkien writes to Edith that he and the boys are to leave France on the following day. They are to arrive at Southampton on 1 September, and that same day to go to *Bournemouth in Hampshire, where they are to stay (c/o Fisher, Devonshire House) for two weeks. On 15 September they are to go to London, and from there the boys are to return to Stonyhurst on 16 September. – Tolkien will tell Edith concerning his experience in France: ‘Never again except I am in the direst poverty will I take any such job’ (quoted in Biography, p. 68).

30 August–1 September 1913 Tolkien and the boys return to England.

16 September 1913 Christopher Wiseman writes to Tolkien from Grenoble, France, where he is taking a holiday course at the university. He has heard from Gilson of Tolkien’s experiences in France. He urges Tolkien to visit Birmingham towards the end of September, and suggests T.C.B.S. meetings on the evening of Saturday, 27 September (when Gilson will be absent) and on Wednesday, 1 October (when Gilson should be able to participate).

Last half of September 1913 Tolkien visits Warwick (from ?17 September), Birmingham, and Norwich.

Early October 1913 Tolkien again stays in Warwick; a postcard from Gilson is forwarded there from Exeter College.

10 October 1913 Tolkien writes to Edith. By now, he has returned to Oxford.

12 October 1913 Michaelmas Full Term begins.

Michaelmas Term 1913 Kenneth Sisam offers the same five classes as in Trinity Term 1913. Tolkien probably attends lectures by W.A. Craigie on Old Icelandic Grammar on Tuesdays at 5.00 p.m. in the Taylor Institution, beginning 14 October, and on Gylfaginning on Thursdays at 5.00 p.m. in the Taylor Institution, beginning 16 October, and lectures by A.S. Napier on Morris and Skeat’s Specimens of Early English on Mondays at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 20 October. He definitely attends Napier’s lectures on English Historical Grammar on Tuesdays and Fridays at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 21 October, and on Old English Dialects on Thursday at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 23 October; lectures by *D. Nichol Smith, Goldsmiths’ Reader in English, on (Samuel) Johnson and His Friends on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 15 October; and G.K.A. Bell’s course on Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and the ‘Franklin’s Tale’ on Wednesdays at 5.45 p.m. at Christ Church, beginning 15 October. – G.B. Smith goes up to Oxford as an exhibitioner at Corpus Christi. A closer friendship develops between Smith and Tolkien, perhaps because Smith too is reading English, and he is the only other inner member of the T.C.B.S. to attend Oxford. Nevertheless the four (Tolkien, Smith, Gilson, and Wiseman) share ideas of what they might do in the world, how they might make an impact.

Academic year 1913–1914 Probably at some time during this year Tolkien takes part in a university rag against the town, the police, and the proctors. ‘Geoffrey [? G.B. Smith] and I “captured” a bus and drove it up to Cornmarket making various unearthly noises followed by a mad crowd of mingled varsity and ‘townese’. It was chockfull of undergrads before it reached the Carfax. There I addressed a few stirring words to a huge mob before descending, and removing to the “maggers memugger” or the Martyrs’ Memorial where I addressed the crowd again’ (quoted in Biography, p. 54).

13 October 1913 At an extraordinary meeting of the Stapeldon Society a scheme for the redecoration of the Junior Common Room at Exeter College is discussed. Tolkien attends and, as Secretary, takes minutes.

20 October 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. Tolkien takes the minutes. In accordance with a motion which is carried unanimously, the Secretary (Tolkien) is instructed to inform the Bursar that the house viewed with apprehension and jealousy his removal of hall breakfast on Sundays without notice given to the Society’s committee. Later in the meeting Tolkien proposes the motion for discussion: ‘This House believes in ghosts.’ He is opposed wittily by *T.W. Earp. The motion fails, 6 votes to 8.

27 October 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. Tolkien takes the minutes. In a debate following Society business he speaks in favour of the motion: ‘Living in college is preferable to living in diggings [i.e. lodgings].’ The motion carries, 16 to 5.

28 October 1913 Tolkien attends the Exeter College Freshman’s Wine. The evening includes a programme of songs, piano and English horn solos, a performance by the Exeter Brass Band, and at 10.00 p.m., a dance.

3 November 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. As Secretary, Tolkien takes the minutes. The main business of the meeting is discussion of a report by the Kitchen Committee.

10 November 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. Tolkien takes the minutes. In a debate following Society business he speaks against the motion: ‘This House would welcome the greater play of the Democratic Factor in foreign policy.’ The motion fails, 7 votes to 10.

17 November 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. Tolkien takes the minutes. In a debate following Society business he speaks against the motion: ‘This House considers the failure of the Olympic Games Fund a satisfactory sign of the healthy state of British sport.’ The motion carries, 10 to 8.

19 November 1913 Tolkien attends the Exeter College Smoker, for which he has designed the programme cover: depicting merry undergraduates in evening dress dancing along the Turl, it is similar to his (presumably contemporaneous) drawing Turl Street, Oxford (Artist and Illustrator, fig. 19). The first part of the Smoker includes songs, piano and banjo solos, and character sketches; the second part consists of dance music played by the orchestra. Tolkien collects several signatures on his printed programme, including those of E.A. Barber and L.R. Farnell, friends, and performers.

24 November 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. Tolkien takes the minutes. Congratulations are voted to those who had organized the Smoker, and to Tolkien ‘for covering the outside of the card in black and white’ (Exeter College archives). Tolkien as Secretary is instructed to convey the Society’s congratulations to a Balliol student for placing an ‘article of common domestic utility’ upon the Martyrs’ Memorial. In a debate that follows, Tolkien speaks against the motion: ‘Europe is destined soon to lose its position of pre-eminence in world politics’. The motion carries, 9 to 1.

December 1913 An untitled poem by Tolkien (From the Many-Willow’d Margin of the Immemorial Thames) is published in the Stapeldon Magazine for December 1913. This is the first verse of the poem From Iffley which he wrote in October 1911 (the second verse is lost by the editor of the magazine).

1 December 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets, riotously, at 8.00 p.m. Tolkien takes the minutes, which he will later write up at length in a very graphic style: ‘At the 791st meeting … one of the world’s great battles between democracy and autocracy was fought and won, and as usual in such conflicts the weapons of democracy were hooliganism and uproar, and an unyielding pertinacity only excelled by that of the chair….’ The meeting is packed, and long before the officers enter, ‘the ominous sounds of a gigantic house athirst for their blood could be heard … to the sound of wild and impartial ululation the Pres. announced the candidates for office in Hilary Term; and the House simmered audibly while voting papers were distributed and counted.’ Tolkien is elected President for Hilary Term; he and the other successful candidates make brief speeches. But objections are made as to whether certain actions of the current President were constitutional, and later in the meeting

all bounds, all order, and all else was forgotten; and in one long riot of raucous hubbub, of hoarse cries, brandished bottles, flying matchstands, gowns wildly fluttered, cups smashed and lights extinguished the House declared its determination to have its will and override the constitution. For precisely one calendar hour did the House battle with noise and indignation for its desire. It was at one time on the point of dissolving and becoming another Society; at another it was vociferating for Rule 40; at another for Rule 10; at another no rule at all or for the President’s head or his nether-garments.

The evening ends with the customary vote of thanks to the outgoing officers, and a ‘vote of admiration for the rock-like constancy with which the President [the main target] had withstood this unparalleled storm or rebellious and insubordinate riot’ (Exeter College archives). The House is too exhausted to hear Mr Macdonald and Mr Blomfield debate whether they should wash themselves or take exercise, and adjourns. See note.

5 December 1913 Tolkien writes a letter (*Oxford Letter), apparently in response to a request from the editor of the King Edward’s School Chronicle, giving an account of Old Edwardians at Oxford. It will be published as by ‘Oxon’ in the December 1913 issue.

6 December 1913 Michaelmas Full Term ends.

12 December 1913 Christopher Wiseman, who with his family has moved to Wandsworth Common, London, invites Tolkien to join him and G.B. Smith for a T.C.B.S. meeting at his home on 19 December. In the event, Tolkien does not attend (nor is there clear evidence that the other members met in his absence).

15 December 1913 Tolkien is scheduled to open the Annual Old Boys Debate at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, but is suddenly taken ill. Rob Gilson therefore introduces the motion: ‘That the World is becoming over-civilised’. G.B. Smith also speaks in favour.

16 December 1913 Apparently having recovered from his illness, Tolkien captains the Old Edwardians in a rugby match against King Edward’s School. Gilson, Smith, and Wiseman also play. King Edward’s School wins, 14 to 10.

Late December 1913–early January 1914 Tolkien visits Barnt Green. He writes a poem, Outside, suggested by a tune heard in 1912, and apparently is again involved in amateur theatricals (on 4 January 1914 Rob Gilson will write that his letter will probably arrive on the morning of Tolkien’s ‘production’).

?17–?19 December 1913 Tolkien informs his T.C.B.S. friends that he is engaged, but gives no details about Edith, not even her name. He possibly tells G.B. Smith in person (no letter of congratulations from Smith is in Tolkien’s T.C.B.S. correspondence file) and writes to Wiseman and Gilson. See note.

20 December 1913 (postmark) Christopher Wiseman sends congratulations to Tolkien on his engagement, on a postcard addressed to him at Barnt Green.

1914 (#ulink_bd3e16e3-cdde-56fb-996e-d19654994d52)

January 1914 Tolkien borrows from the Exeter College library A History of English Sounds from the Earliest Period by Henry Sweet. He will do so again on 5 November 1914.