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1913

1913 Probably during this year, Tolkien makes the drawing Xanadu (Artist and Illustrator, fig. 37).

3 January 1913 At midnight, as Tolkien reaches the age of twenty-one, he begins a letter to Edith Bratt, telling her that his feelings for her have not changed and that he wants to marry her. A few days later he receives a reply from Edith that she is engaged to George Field, the brother of one of her school-friends, Molly Field; but the letter also makes it clear that she had done this because she had not expected that Ronald would still care for her, and George was kind and someone she felt she could accept as a husband. Tolkien writes again, and they arrange to meet.

8 January 1913 Tolkien visits Cheltenham to see Edith; while there he stays at the Moorend Park lodging house in Charlton Kings. Edith meets him at the station. They walk into the country to be alone and undisturbed while discussing their situation; there they sit under a railway viaduct. Edith agrees to break her engagement to George and to marry Ronald, but they decide to keep their engagement secret for a while. The only exception is Father Francis, whom Tolkien feels it is his duty to inform. See note.

First part of 1913 When Father Francis learns of Tolkien’s engagement, he is not enthusiastic, but accepts the inevitable. Tolkien promises Edith that he will work hard to gain a good degree to ensure their future together. But if their marriage is to be blessed by the Catholic Church, Edith must convert to Roman Catholicism. Although she has become an active member of the Church of England while living in Cheltenham with her family friends the Jessops, she is willing to convert, but prefers to delay this step until closer to their marriage, or at least until they are officially engaged. Tolkien insists that she not delay, however, and as a consequence, as expected, the Jessops order her to leave their house. Edith finds lodgings in *Warwick, not far from Oxford, and moves there with her cousin Jennie Grove. She begins to take instruction from a Roman Catholic parish priest, Father William J. Murphy.

January 1913 Tolkien begins to keep a diary in which, under the heading ‘JRRT and EMB in account together, AMDG [ad maiorem Dei gloriam]’, he notes the number of hours he works (quoted in Life and Legend, p. 27). He also records, in red ink, his now more assiduous performance of religious duties.

12 January 1913 Hilary Full Term begins.

Hilary Term 1913 Tolkien works hard, but he has to take Honour Moderations at the end of February, and now has only a few weeks to make up for the four terms in which he has not devoted enough time to his studies. From 14 January he will attend Joseph Wright’s continuing lectures on Comparative Latin Grammar on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12.15 p.m. in the Taylor Institution, and perhaps also E.A. Barber’s lectures on Virgil (questions and translations) on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 10.00 a.m. at Exeter College, or those by Gilbert Murray on Euripides’ Bacchae (a set text) on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools. – Presumably in preparation for Honour Moderations only six weeks later (see entry for 27 February), Tolkien borrows from the Exeter College library Œdipus Tyrannus and Elektra by Sophocles and the Eumenides, Agamemnon, and Choephoroe by Aeschylus. – Tolkien continues to play an active role in the Stapeldon Society; his participation in other societies or clubs during this term is not clear. Three meetings of the Exeter College Essay Club are held in Hilary Term, at which papers are presented on (at least) the poetry of Oscar Wilde, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti as a poet and artist. See note.

20 January 1913 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society Tolkien is elected to the Kitchen Committee together with Mr Price. The minutes record that Mr Price said that he considered quantity of food more important than quality, but Mr Tolkien ‘expressed his capacity for discrimination and guaranteed the suppression of Mr Price’s tendencies’ (Exeter College archives). During a debate at the same meeting Tolkien speaks against the motion: ‘The Pipe is better than the Cigarette.’ The motion fails, 5 votes to 8. In fact, Tolkien usually smokes a pipe, only occasionally cigarettes.

27 January 1913 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society the College charges committee, of which Tolkien is a member, presents its report. This is amended and carried for first reading.

1 February 1913 Tolkien sends Edith a picture postcard of the dining hall at Exeter College, with an ‘X’ marking where he sits. See note. He tells her that he has been to Holy Communion that morning and will go again the next day (Sunday), and that he is about to go to a meeting of the Old Edwardians.

3 February 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets.

10 February 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets.

17 February 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets. The minutes record that ‘Mr Gordon was censured for appearing on the towpath in a large overcoat and carrying a stick or cane borrowed from Hookham and tripping Mr Hoffman up and almost causing him to fall into The River. After the House had unanimously agreed in condemning Mr Gordon, Mr Tolkien rose and said it was he who tripped Mr Hoffman but even then the House remained adamant in its hostile attitude towards Mr Gordon’ (Exeter College archives). – Sydney Cohen, an Exeter College exhibitioner of Tolkien’s year and a fellow resident of the ‘Swiss Cottage’, kills himself in the presence of a fellow student, Henry ‘Rex’ Allpass.

Late February 1913 Tolkien apparently makes another visit to Cheltenham. See note.

24 February 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets.

27 February 1913 The First Public Examination for the Honour School of Greek and Latin Literature (Honour Moderations) begins. Tolkien takes probably twelve written papers, each of three hours’ duration, one in the morning and one in the afternoon over a period of several days. He is required to translate passages from Homer and Demosthenes, and from Virgil and Cicero (the Orations); and to translate, without preparation, passages from Greek authors other than Homer and Demosthenes, and from Latin authors other than Virgil and Cicero. He is also examined on four Greek plays, Œdipus Tyrannus and Elektra by Sophocles, Agamemnon by Aeschylus, and the Bacchae by Euripides, with special attention to Œdipus Tyrannus; on Plato, his choice of two of the Gorgias, Protagoras, and Phædo; on Annals I–IV by Tacitus; and on Latin prose composition, on Greek prose composition, and on Greek and Latin verse composition. In addition he takes a general paper on Greek and Latin grammar, literary criticism, and antiquities, including questions on Homer, Virgil, Demosthenes, and Cicero; and a paper on a subject of his choice, the elements of Comparative Philology as applied to Greek and Latin, with a special knowledge of Greek philology.

28 February 1913 Tolkien resigns from the King Edward’s Horse. His discharge certificate, dated 28 February 1913, certifies that Trooper no. 1624, who enlisted to serve in the Territorial Force of the County of London on 28 November 1911, is discharged in consequence of his own request, and that his claims have been properly settled. See note.

March 1913 Tolkien’s efforts to make up for lost time prove insufficient to achieve a First Class in Honour Moderations. He is placed in the Second Class, though the examiners give his paper on Comparative Philology an ‘alpha’ (see note). One examiner notes in the mark book (Oxford University Archives EX 2/2/23) that Tolkien’s Latin Prose paper was ‘largely illegible’ and his Greek Verse paper was written in ‘filthy script!’ His lowest marks are for the translation of Virgil, for the paper on Tacitus, and for Latin verse composition. His tutors having noted his success in the Comparative Philology paper, and at least Professor Joseph Wright knowing of his interest in Germanic languages, suggest that Tolkien change from Classics to the English Honour School in the following (Trinity) term. Exeter College very generously allows Tolkien to keep his Classics exhibition when he agrees to this suggestion; he will learn that this was due to the influence of his tutor, L.R. Farnell, at that time Sub-Rector of the College, who had a great respect for Philology.

3 March 1913 The Stapeldon Society meets.

End of Hilary Term or beginning of Trinity Term 1913 L.R. Farnell writes about Tolkien to *A.S. Napier, the Merton Professor of English Language and Rawlinson Professor of Anglo-Saxon. Tolkien visits Napier at his house in Headington, east of the centre of Oxford. ‘I recall that I was ushered into a very dim room and could hardly see Napier. He was courteous, but said little. He never spoke to me again. I attended his lectures, when he was well enough to give them’ (letter to *Neil Ker, 22 November 1970, Letters, p. 406).

8 March 1913 Hilary Full Term ends.

18 March 1913 Tolkien returns to Birmingham to take part in the annual Open Debate at King Edward’s School. The motion ‘That modern life is prosaic’ is introduced by Sidney Barrowclough (‘only the educated classes … would choose to discuss a motion of such a kind; any other class would take its truth for granted’), then argued by G.B. Smith in the negative (‘no life could be prosaic, which was lived in an age of problems as great and as interesting as those of the present day’), G.H. Bonner in the affirmative (‘The question before the House was, not whether romance was dead or not, but whether there was enough of it in modern life to make that life other than prosaic’), and R.S. Payton in the negative (‘The object of modern life … was universal knowledge. But the actual importance of this search has made it far more romantic than the mythical quest of the ancient demi-god’). The discussion being thrown open to all,

Mr J.R.R. Tolkien rose to oppose the motion. After to some extent criticising the speakers on both sides, he declared that romance did not mean megalomania, and was far more likely to be found in an age of small and limited efforts, than in one of boasting, and of excessive ambition. Finality was essential to it; what was not essential was, that there should be any knowledge or realisation of its existence before a romantic life could be lived.

Tolkien ‘considered that the proof of the motion would be found in the lives of the poor, and instanced their taste for exciting literature’ (‘Debating Society’, King Edward’s School Chronicle n.s. 28, no. 199 (May 1913), pp. 34–6). The motion fails, 19 votes to 52.

21 March 1913 Rob Gilson sends a postcard to Tolkien at Exeter College; on 25 March it will be forwarded to Tolkien at Phoenix Farm, Gedling.

Easter 1913 Tolkien inscribes his name in a 1910 printing of Charles Grosvenor Osgood’s edition of Pearl (first published 1906).

7 April 1913 Honour Moderations results are issued; they will be published in The Times on 8 April (p. 6). Tolkien’s name is in the Second Class.

15 April 1913 L.R. Farnell becomes Rector of Exeter College.

17 April 1913 Honour Moderations results are published in the Oxford University Gazette. In the same issue Tolkien is listed as a student in both English Language and Literature and Medieval and Modern European Languages and Literature other than English.

Over the next seven terms Tolkien will need to become familiar with a range of literary and philological subjects and set texts as prescribed in the Oxford Regulations of the Board of Studies, knowing that he may be examined on them in ten papers at the end of Trinity Term 1915:

Old English texts, especially Beowulf, The Fight at Finnesburg, Deor’s Complaint, the Wife’s Complaint, Waldere, The Ruin, The First Riddle, the Old English Exodus, Elene, Gregory’s Dialogues bks. 1 and 2 (MSS. C and O), and selections 1–34 from the Anglo-Saxon Reader, 8th edn., ed. Henry Sweet. The latter comprises ‘Cynewulf and Cyneheard’ from the Saxon Chronicle; ‘On the State of Learning in England’ from King Alfred’s preface to the West-Saxon version of Gregory’s Cura Pastoralis (Pastoral Care); Chapter 21 of Alfred’s translation of the Cura Pastoralis; ‘The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan’ and ‘The Amazons (I, 10)’ from Alfred’s version of the Compendious History of the World by Orosius; ‘The Battle of Ashdown’, ‘Alfred and Godrum’, and ‘Alfred’s Wars with the Danes’ from the Saxon Chronicle; a selection from Alfred’s translation of De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boethius; ‘Account of the Poet Caedmon’ from Alfred’s translation of the Ecclesiastical History by the Venerable Bede; extracts from the Laws of Ine; a selection of charters; two homilies by Ælfric, ‘The Assumption of St John the Apostle’ and ‘The Nativity of the Innocents’; the ‘Life of King Oswald’ from Ælfric’s Lives of the Saints; Wulfstan’s address to the English, a homily; ‘The Martyrdom of Ælfeah’ and ‘Eustace at Dover, and the Outlawry of Godwine’ from the Saxon Chronicle; a selection of charms; ‘Beowulf and Grendel’s Mother’ from Beowulf; The Battle of Maldon; The Fall of the Angels, a biblical poem once attributed to Caedmon; Judith; ‘The Happy Land’ from The Phœnix; The Dream of the Rood; The Wanderer; a selection of riddles; gnomic verses; The Seafarer; Northumbrian fragments; Mercian hymns; Kentish charters; the Codex Aureus inscription; and a Kentish psalm.

Middle English texts, especially Havelok; Pearl; The Owl and the Nightingale; The Taill of Rauf Caolyear; selections from Specimens of Early English, Part 1, 2nd edition, nos. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and Part II, 4th edn., nos. 1, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, ed. Richard Morris and Walter W. Skeat; and selections from An Old English Miscellany (‘old’ in the sense of ‘early’, not Anglo-Saxon), ed. Richard Morris, pp. 1–138. The selections from Morris and Skeat comprise ‘Jewish and Christian Offerings’ from the Ormulum; ‘Hengist and Horsa’ from Layamon’s Brut; two texts from The Life of St Juliana; ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ and ‘Directions How a Nun Should Live’ from the *Ancrene Riwle; A Good Orison of Our Lady (a short rhyming poem); two Old Kentish sermons, Sermo in Die Epiphaniae and Dominica Secunda post Octavam Epiphaniae; passages in the life of Joseph, from the English version of Genesis and Exodus; two versions of A Moral Ode; King Horn; the Reign of William the Conqueror and the Life of St Dunstan by Robert of Gloucester; ‘The Visit of the Magi’ and ‘The Flight into Egypt’ from Cursor Mundi (Cursur o Werld); sermon on Matthew 24:43 and the Paternoster, Ave Maria, and Credo from the Middle Kentish of Dan Michael of Northgate; extracts from The Pricke of Conscience by Richard Rolle of Hampole; extracts from Piers the Plowman (A text); and extracts from bk. 7 of The Bruce by John Barbour. The selections from An Old English Miscellany comprise a bestiary (‘The Lion’, ‘The Eagle’, ‘The Serpent’, ‘The Ant’, ‘The Hart’, ‘The Fox’, ‘The Spider’, ‘The Whale’, ‘The Elephant’, ‘The Panther’, ‘The Dove’); Old Kentish sermons; and miscellaneous items mainly from Jesus College (Oxford) MS I. Arch. I. 29.

The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, especially his Troilus and Criseyde, the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’, ‘The Franklin’s Tale’, and ‘The Clerk’s Tale’.

The works of Shakespeare, especially Love’s Labour’s Lost, Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2, Hamlet, and Antony and Cleopatra.

The history of English literature in general.

The history of the English language.

Gothic and Germanic philology.

In addition, Tolkien will have to choose a Special Subject on which he will be examined separately. He will choose Scandinavian Philology, which according to the Regulations will have special reference to Icelandic, together with a special study of the Snorra Edda (i.e. the Prose or Younger Edda), Gylfaginning (Chapters 20–54); the Völsunga Saga (Chapters 13–31); Hallfreðar Saga; Þorfinns Saga Karlsefnis; and Hrafnkels Saga.

20 April 1913 Trinity Full Term begins.

Trinity Term 1913 *Kenneth Sisam, Professor Napier’s assistant, becomes Tolkien’s tutor. Tolkien will later write: ‘I think I certainly derived from [Sisam] much of the benefit which he attributes to Napier’s example and teaching…. His teaching was, however, spiced with a pungency, humour and practical wisdom which were his own. I owe him a great debt and have not forgotten it…. He taught me not only to read texts, but to study second-hand book catalogues, of which I was not even aware. Some he marked for me’ (letter to Neil Ker, 22 November 1970, Letters, p. 406). During this term Kenneth Sisam gives the following classes: on Sweet’s Anglo-Saxon Reader (prose), on Mondays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 28 April; Elementary Historical Grammar, on Tuesdays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 22 April; Havelok, on Thursdays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 24 April; and Sweet’s Anglo-Saxon Reader (verse), on Fridays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 25 April. He will give these classes at the same times every term while Tolkien is an undergraduate in the English School, and in one term or another (excepting Michaelmas Term 1914, see below) Tolkien probably attends them all. In Trinity Term 1913 Sisam also gives a class on Morris and Skeat’s Specimens of Early English on Wednesdays at 10.00 in the Examination Schools, beginning 23 April; he will repeat it in Michaelmas Term 1913, Michaelmas Term 1914, and Hilary and Trinity Terms 1915. – Tolkien’s tutor for Scandinavian Philology is *W.A. Craigie, the Taylorian Lecturer in the Scandinavian Languages. During this term Craigie lectures on Scandinavian Philology, with special reference to Old and Middle English, on Tuesdays at 5.00 p.m. in the Taylor Institution, beginning 22 April. Tolkien probably also attends Joseph Wright’s lectures on Gothic Grammar on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12.15 p.m. in the Taylor Institution, from 24 April. – Tolkien already knows some of the relevant texts and a fair amount of Old English and Old Norse. He works much harder than he had at Classics, for he finds the texts more interesting, and he begins to develop a special interest in the dialect of Middle English peculiar to the West Midlands, the area from which his Suffield ancestors came. When he reads the Old English poem Crist with its reference to ‘Earendel’ it strikes resonances that will endure in future writings. – At a meeting of the Exeter College Essay Club, Tolkien shares one of his growing enthusiasms by reading a paper on the Norse sagas. The Stapeldon Magazine for June 1913 will report (p. 276) that

the reader proved himself an able and enthusiastic champion, and by adopting a somewhat unconventional turn of phrase, suiting admirably with his subject and the quotations with which he ended, he added a spirit and freshness to an already admirable paper. It is therefore no disparagement to say that the quotations were enjoyed perhaps even more than the criticism of the reader. The subsequent discussion revealed a wide cleavage of taste.

21 April 1913 Tolkien probably speaks with Kenneth Sisam, following the instruction printed in the Oxford University Gazette for 17 April that anyone wishing to attend Sisam’s classes should call on him at Merton College between 10.00 and 11.00 a.m.

27 April 1913 Rob Gilson replies to a letter from Tolkien in which the latter apparently had written of his Second Class in Honour Moderations and of his decision to change to the English School. Gilson had seen the Honour Moderations results announced in the papers but had not known whether to send congratulations or commiserations. His comments suggest that Tolkien might have earlier expressed an interest in the English School or a growing lack of interest in Classics. Gilson reports his father’s opinion that Tolkien ought to have got a First. He also remarks that a postcard he sent to Tolkien at Barnt Green had missed him, and refers to Tolkien having darted to and fro during the vacation.

28 April 1913 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society Mr Mackarness is appointed to the post of Jester, with Tolkien as his deputy. The minutes note that ‘Mr Mackarness in thanking the house remarked that he was afraid that his repertoire was somewhat unfitted to the high standard of morals pertaining in the Society and Mr Tolkien to the general surprise endorsed the remark’ (Exeter College archives). Tolkien probably finishes his term of duty on the Kitchen Committee, as new members are elected.

1 May 1913 Tolkien inscribes this date in a copy of the Everyman edition of the Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest.

12 May 1913 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society Tolkien describes confrontations between Town and Gown with which he had been involved the previous night. The Society minutes note that ‘the Deputy Public Orator [Tolkien] then went on to describe his arrest and subsequent release and told how on returning to college he had delighted the spectators by a magnificent, if unavailing, attempt to scale the Swiss Cottage and had spent the rest of the evening in climbing in and out of Mr Barnett’s window’ (Exeter College archives).

26 May 1913 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society Tolkien, as Deputy Public Orator, is called upon to propose a vote of censure against the President of the Society for being absent from a meeting without giving notice.

31 May 1913 The Apolausticks meet for a six-course dinner at an unnamed venue. Tolkien’s menu card shows that Allen Barnett is now President. See note.

4 June 1913 Tolkien and Allen Barnett visit the charred ruin of Fred Rough’s Oxford boathouse, burned to the ground by militant suffragettes. See note.

5 June 1913 Christopher Wiseman writes to Tolkien, who has mentioned in a letter some injury to his foot. Wiseman wants Tolkien to get better so that they can both take part in King Edward’s School Sports as Old Edwardians.

9 June 1913 At a meeting of the Stapeldon Society R.H. Gordon and J.R.R. Tolkien are elected President and Secretary of the Society for the next term. Tolkien also proposes a vote of censure against the outgoing President for having attended only two meetings during his tenure of office. – G.B. Smith, still at King Edward’s School, replies to a letter from Tolkien he received that morning. Smith, who will go up to Oxford in Michaelmas Term 1913, having been awarded an exhibition at Corpus Christi College, asks Tolkien about obtaining furniture, etc. for his college rooms.

10 June 1913 Rob Gilson writes to Tolkien from his home at Marston Green near Birmingham, mentioning a long letter in which Tolkien has said how much he is enjoying the Oxford English School. Gilson asks him to play tennis on Saturday, 14 June, and if he will be in Birmingham for the King Edward’s School Sports on 28 June, and for Speech Day on 28 July. – Tolkien replies immediately, informing Gilson that he will be in Warwick until 28 June or 1 July.

12 June 1913 Gilson writes again to encourage Tolkien to visit him on 14 June, and sends him train times to Warwick from Marston Green.

14 June 1913 Trinity Full Term ends. – Tolkien probably travels to Marston Green to attend a tennis party at the Gilsons. Rob Gilson and other school friends are present. – In the evening, Tolkien probably travels to Warwick to visit Edith and Jennie Grove.

?14 June–28 June 1913 Tolkien stays in Warwick. A suitable house is found for Edith and Jennie to rent at 15 Victoria Road, Warwick, and they deal with many domestic details. Tolkien and Edith attend Benediction in the Catholic church together for the first time.

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.