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1904 BCE
Death of Tolkien's Mother
Mabel Tolkien, Tolkien's mother, dies in Edgbaston, Birmingham -
J.R.R. Tolkien's Birth
Tolkien was born in what is now South Africa -
Moves to England
Mabel Tolkien returns to England with Tolkien and his brother -
Death of Tolkien's Father
Death of Arthur Tolkien, Tolkien's father, in Bloemfontein, now South Africa -
Move
Tolkien's Aunt Beatrice takes the boys in. -
Oxford Schollorship
Tolkien obtains a scholarship at Oxford’s Exeter College. -
Engagement
Tolkien writes to Edith on his 21st birthday, and soon after they become engaged. -
First of Middle Earth
Tolkien writes his first identifiable “Middle-earth” fragment ‘The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star’. -
Married
Ronald and Edith are married in Warwick. -
Army
Tolkien becomes a Battalion Signalling Officer. -
Sick
Suffering from trench fever, Tolkien returns to England. -
Dictionary
The Tolkiens return to Oxford. Tolkien obtains employment with the New English Dictionary [Oxford English Dictionary]. -
Hobbit's Beggining
About this time, Tolkien may have written the first sentence of The Hobbit: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit“ -
Hobbit Published
The Hobbit is published. Because of its success, Stanley Unwin subsequently urges Tolkien to write a sequel, which he begins. This is the germ of The Lord of the Rings. -
The Fellowship of the Ring.
Publication of The Fellowship of the Ring. -
The Two Towers.
Publication of The Two Towers. -
The Return of the King
Publication of The Return of the King. -
Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is published. -
Death of Edith
Death of Edith Tolkien. -
DEATH
Death of J.R.R. Tolkien from a stomach ulcer.
