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1916

1916 Tolkien paints a watercolour, The Day after the Day after Tomorrow. On the verso of the sheet is another picture, Wrenching a Slow Reluctant Truth, presumably done at same time.

?January–February 1916 Tolkien writes *Over Old Hills and Far Away, another ‘fairy’ poem about the piper Tinfang Warble. The manuscript has an apparently contemporaneous note, ‘Jan[uary]–Feb[ruary] 1916’. A later typescript of the poem will be inscribed ‘Brocton Camp, Christ[mas]–Jan[uary] 1915–16’.

7 January 1916 Gilson writes to inform Tolkien that he is leaving for the front on 8 January.

12 January 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien at Brocton Camp, full of praise for Kortirion among the Trees: ‘it is a great and a noble poem’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). He finds life dreary and thinks he is not a success in the Army. He wishes it were possible to hold another T.C.B.S. Council.

19 January 1916 Dora Owen, who has seen Goblin Feet in Oxford Poetry 1915, writes to ask Tolkien if she may include it in a collection of fairy poetry she is compiling for publication by Longmans (The Book of Fairy Poetry, 1920). On receiving the letter Tolkien will send her several of his poems to read and consider.

c. 26 January–22 March 1916 Knowing that he will soon be ordered to the front, Tolkien and Edith set the date for their wedding. Tolkien informs his T.C.B.S. friends (his pertinent letter to Gilson is dated 26 January) and sets his affairs in order to provide for Edith in case the worst happens. He sells his share in the motor cycle, and goes to Birmingham to arrange with Father Francis Morgan the transfer of his modest inheritance into his own name. He intends to tell Father Francis of his forthcoming marriage, but recalling the latter’s past disapproval he finds it impossible to raise the subject. The wedding is arranged to take place in Warwick on 22 March despite the fact that it will be Lent and therefore the marriage service cannot be followed by a nuptial Mass. Tolkien and Edith may have chosen this date because they feared that his departure was imminent, or Tolkien may have chosen it to combine his return to Oxford for his degree ceremony, his wedding, and his honeymoon into one period of leave. He does eventually manage to write of his plans to Father Francis, who replies wishing Tolkien and Edith ‘every blessing and happiness’ (quoted in Biography, p. 78) and saying that he would like to conduct the ceremony himself in the Oratory Church, Birmingham; but it is too late to change the arrangements.

2 February 1916 Dora Owen writes to Tolkien to say how much she has enjoyed his poems. She mentions especially The Trumpets of Faerie, The Princess Nî, A Song of Aryador, Sea-Song of an Elder Day, The Shores of Faery, You & Me and the Cottage of Lost Play, and Outside. She praises them for ‘a certain haunting quality in their music’ and feels that he ought to get them published; she suggests that he send them to Sidgwick & Jackson, or Elkin Matthews, or John Lane. She suggests placing The Trumpets of Faerie first.

3 February 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien at M Lines, Brocton Camp, thanking him for a letter. Tolkien probably mentioned a training course, as Smith says that he too has returned to his regiment after time spent on instruction. He encourages Tolkien to try to get his poems published, to write to Sidgwick & Jackson or anyone else. He greatly admires Tolkien’s work,

and my chief consolation is, that if I am scuppered to-night … there will still be left a member of the great T.C.B.S. to voice what I dreamed and what we all agreed upon. For the death of one of its members cannot, I am determined, dissolve the T.C.B.S. Death is so close to us now that I feel – and I am sure you feel, and all the three other heroes feel, how impuissant it is. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four!

He urges Tolkien to publish, as ‘you I am sure are chosen…. Make haste, before you come out to this orgy of death and cruelty’ (quoted in Biography, p. 86).

4 February 1916 Wiseman writes to Tolkien, praising Kortirion among the Trees which he returns.

9 February 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien at Brocton Camp about what friendship with the other T.C.B.S. members means to him, and probably in response to Tolkien expressing worry that he is taking up too much of the time of the T.C.B.S. with his poetry. Smith says that they believe in his work and feel that in some way they contribute. He has had a letter in which Tolkien told him that he and Edith are getting married and that he has sent his poems to Sidgwick & Jackson. – The Military Service Act introduces conscription for unmarried men between 18 and 41.

22 February 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien at M Lines, Brocton Camp, urging him to send Kortirion among the Trees to a publisher. He has mentioned it to R.W. Reynolds and asks Tolkien to send him a copy if he has not already done so.

March 1916 Tolkien completes his Qenya poem Narqelion, inspired by Kortirion among the Trees. It is a song to autumn with passing references to Eldamar and the Gnomes (a kindred of the Elves in Tolkien’s mythology, later the Noldoli or Noldor).

1 March 1916 Wiseman writes to Tolkien at Brocton Camp, in reply to a letter telling Wiseman of the forthcoming wedding and perhaps also rebutting one of Wiseman’s comments on Kortirion among the Trees. Wiseman defends his views, and says that while Tolkien is fascinated by night and stars and ‘little, delicate, beautiful creations’, he is ‘more thrilled by enormous, slow-moving, omnipotent things’ and scientific discoveries, ‘the wonderful secrets that man is continually digging out … of the great sun, the great stars, the amazing greatness of mountains’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford).

2 March 1916 Tolkien writes to Edith. He has spent a miserable wet afternoon re-reading old military lecture-notes ‘and getting bored with them after an hour and a half. I have done some touches to my nonsense fairy language [Qenya] – to its improvement. I often long to work at it and don’t let myself ’cause though I love it so it does seem such a mad hobby!’ (Letters, p. 8).

4 March 1916 Smith sends Tolkien part of his long poem ‘The Burial of Sophocles’.

5 March 1916 (postmark) Smith writes to Tolkien at M Lines, Brocton Camp, sending the whole of a poem (presumably the last section of ‘The Burial of Sophocles’). He asks Tolkien to read it and then post it in the addressed envelope to a place of safe keeping unless he wants to keep it himself. He mentions that he has just received a long letter from Tolkien.

9 March 1916 Gilson writes to Tolkien at M Lines, Brocton Camp, sending him his good wishes, prayers, and blessings for his approaching marriage.

10 March 1916 R.W. Reynolds writes to Tolkien, thanking him for a letter and for the poem Kortirion among the Trees which he likes. He asks to see more poems.

14, 17, 26 March and 16 April 1916 Wiseman sends to Tolkien at Brocton Camp, forwarded to the School of Signalling, a long letter written in stages. He writes at great length about the T.C.B.S. and his present hopes, and reminisces about the past. He defends his position concerning Kortirion among the Trees, feeling that Tolkien has not grasped what he was trying to express, and notes differences in their tastes. He, Gilson, and Smith have been corresponding about what to give Tolkien and Edith as a wedding present, but have decided to ask them what they want. He would like to hear about the wedding. Tolkien has written to him that ‘the Eldar, the Solosimpe, the Noldoli [different kindreds of Elves in his mythology] are better, warmer, fairer to the heart than the mathematics of the tide, or the vortices that are the winds …’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford).

16–18 March 1916 Tolkien writes, or continues to write, a poem, originally called The Wanderer’s Allegiance, concerning Warwick and Oxford (*The Town of Dreams and the City of Present Sorrow). Subsequently this is divided into three parts in a manuscript dated ‘March 16–17–18 1916’ with subtitles ‘Prelude’, ‘The Inland City’, and ‘The Sorrowful City’. A later manuscript will be inscribed in part ‘March 1916, Oxford and Warwick’.

16 March 1916 Tolkien attends his delayed degree ceremony in Oxford.

22 March 1916 Tolkien and Edith are married by Father Murphy after early Mass, in the Church of St Mary the Immaculate in Warwick. The witnesses are Anna M. Johnson, presumably a local friend or someone associated with the church, and Jennie Grove. After the ceremony they travel by train to *Clevedon in Somerset for a week’s honeymoon; while in the train they doodle on the back of a greetings telegram versions of Edith’s new name. During their honeymoon they visit *Cheddar Gorge and Caves which make a great impression on Tolkien.

31 March 1916 Sidgwick & Jackson rejects the volume of poems, The Trumpets of Faerie, that Tolkien had submitted for publication.

April 1916 Edith gives up the house in Warwick she had been renting with Jennie Grove. Tolkien finds lodgings for them in the Staffordshire village of *Great Haywood, which is near his camp and has a Catholic Church. The priest, Father Augustin Emery, welcomes Edith and gives the couple a special nuptial blessing at Sunday Mass.

6 April 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien at M Lines, Brocton Camp. He says that it is a long time since he has heard from Tolkien. He mentions, but cannot yet recommend, a literary agent to whom he has sent some of his poems, the Authors’ Alliance in London.

Mid-April–mid-May 1916 Tolkien takes a course of instruction at the Northern Command and Ripon Training Centre Signalling School, Farnley Park, *Otley, Yorkshire.

?Late April 1916 Hilary Tolkien is wounded, probably on the Roclincourt front near Arras.

28 April 1916 Acting Captain L.K. Sands, the fellow King Edward’s School student with whom Tolkien travelled to Oxford in October 1911, dies of machine-gun wounds received the previous day in France.

8 May 1916 Tolkien applies to the Adjutant, 13th Battalion, for leave from 13 to 17 May on completion of his signalling course. If leave is granted, his address will be 26 Hamilton Terrace, Leamington.

10 May 1916 A.S. Napier dies.

11 May 1916 The Adjutant, 13th Battalion, replies to Tolkien that no leave is being granted, but then strikes this order and grants him leave until the first train on 15 May.

13 May 1916 Tolkien’s ‘(Provisional) Instructor’s Certificate of Signalling (For Officers)’ is so dated, and signed by the Commandant at Farnley Park. This certifies that Tolkien has qualified, and states that he has obtained 95% accuracy in Written Examination, Examination in Telephony etc. (Oral and Practical), and Knowledge of Map Reading; and speeds for disc of 4 words per minute, for lamp of 6 words per minute, for buzzer of 10 words per minute, and for semaphore of 8 words per minute. – Tolkien presumably now takes his leave, returning to camp on 15 May.

23 May 1916 Smith sends Tolkien at Brocton Camp a telegram from West Bromwich saying that he is on leave until 29 May and asking if they can meet.

24 May 1916 Smith, presumably having received a reply from Tolkien, sends another telegram saying that he proposes to come to Great Haywood on Saturday afternoon and will stay one night.

26 May 1916 Smith sends a telegram to Tolkien c/o Mrs Kendrick (Edith’s landlady) in Great Haywood, giving the arrival time of his train.

27–28 May 1916 Smith visits the Tolkiens in Great Haywood. In a later letter he mentions having met both Edith and Jennie Grove.

?End of May 1916 Smith writes to thank Tolkien for a ‘splendid two days’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford).

2 June 1916 Army Headquarters, Cannock Chase, informs Tolkien by telegram that he is to join the British Expeditionary Force in France, but first will report to the Embarkation Staff Officer at Folkestone on 5 June. He is granted 48 hours leave.

3 June 1916 Tolkien and Edith spend the night at the Plough and Harrow Hotel in Hagley Road, Edgbaston.

4 June 1916 In the afternoon, Tolkien and Edith say farewell. He goes to London by train.

5 June 1916 Tolkien takes the 11.05 a.m. train from Charing Cross Station to arrive at Folkestone at 1.00 p.m. There he reports to the Embarkation Staff Officer and spends the night.

6 June 1916 Tolkien crosses the English Channel to Calais and travels to camp No. 32 at Étaples. Equipment he had bought – including a camp bed, sleeping bag, mattress, and spare boots – having failed to arrive, he begs, borrows, or buys replacements. – Possibly on this date he writes or begins to write a poem expressing his feelings for the land he has left, ending with ‘O lonely, sparkling isle, farewell.’ The earliest, undated version has the Qenya title Tol Eressëa, but later the poem will be called *The Lonely Isle (a literal translation from the Qenya) and will bear the dedication ‘For England’. Tolkien’s mythology is now closely tied to England, and the reference in the poem to a ‘fair citadel’ is to both Warwick and Kortirion. – On or after this date Tolkien probably also writes the poem *Habbanan beneath the Stars. He will later note on a revised manuscript of the work ‘Insp[ired] Brocton [Camp] Dec[ember] [19]15, written Étaples June 1916’.

7 June 1916 Tolkien moves to camp No. 25 at Étaples. There newly arrived soldiers are given final training and toughening up before being sent to the front. See note. Tolkien dislikes the hardened professional officers above him, who treat him like a schoolboy, but he will come to respect the ordinary enlisted men. Although as an officer he cannot make friends among them, he appreciates their qualities and will have closer contact with those who serve as his batman. He will soon be assigned from the reserve 13th Battalion to the active 11th Battalion, part of the 74th Infantry Brigade of the 25th Division of the British Expeditionary Force.

June–October 1916 It is now difficult for Tolkien to find the time or suitable conditions to write at length. But he manages to write or revise some poems, and he can develop his stories in his mind and continue to connect their strands so that when eventually he does have leisure to write them down, his stories are almost fully formed. He will later say in an interview that one could not write in the trenches: ‘You might scribble something on the back of an envelope and shove it in your back pocket but that’s all. You couldn’t write. You’d be crouching down among fleas and filth’ (Philip Norman, ‘The Hobbit Man’, Sunday Times Magazine, 15 January 1967, p. 36). But he will also say to his son Christopher in 1944: ‘Lots of the early parts of [the mythology] (and the languages) – discarded or absorbed – were done in grimy canteens, at lectures in cold fogs, in huts full of blasphemy and smut, or by candle-light in bell-tents, even some down in dugouts under shell fire’ (Letters, p. 78). By now he may have already begun to use a small notebook to jot down ideas, brief notes, and single sentences and names. – Since 5 June he has kept a concise diary, recording where he sleeps each night and when, in the coming months, he sees G.B. Smith: for this he uses a small, thin notebook, inscribed after Smith’s death ‘Diary of brief time in France and of the last seven times I saw G.B.S.’ The entries are marked with two symbols which may mark when Tolkien is able to attend Mass, and perhaps when he makes confession. See note. – He sends frequent letters to Edith, but as these are read by the censor Tolkien cannot say too much. He and Edith, however, have devised a secret code of dots which enables her to know roughly where he is.

?18 (possibly 11) June 1916 Smith, having returned to France, writes to Tolkien ‘attached 11th [Battalion] Lancashire Fusiliers, 25th I.B.D., 25 A.P.O. (S) 17, B.E.F.’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). He is sorry that Tolkien’s summer at Great Haywood had been cut short, and also that Tolkien has not been assigned to the same battalion as Smith.

22 June 1916 Gilson replies to a letter from Tolkien received the previous day on Gilson’s return from a night working party. He is cheered to receive letters from the T.C.B.S. (This seems to be Gilson’s final letter to Tolkien.)

25 June 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien, wishing him the very best of luck ‘in all that may happen to you within the next few months, and may we live beyond them to a better time’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford).

27–28 June 1916 Tolkien with other reinforcements travels to join his battalion at the front. After a slow train journey via Abbeville, having taken twenty-four hours to reach Amiens, he marches to the hamlet of Rubempré ten miles away. Gunfire can be heard in the distance.

28 June 1916 The war diary of the 11th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers notes the arrival of Second Lieutenant J.R.R. Tolkien.

29–30 June 1916 The 11th Battalion, as usual when not in the trenches, spends much of the day drilling and at bayonet practice, but Tolkien as an officer trained for signal duties will also spend time in specialist training.

30 June–1 July 1916 On 30 June, departing at 9.15 p.m., the battalion marches to billets in the village of Warloy-Baillon, arriving at about 1.00 a.m. on 1 July.

1 July 1916 The lengthy Battle of the Somme begins: the Allies aim to overcome strong German defences in the Somme River valley in north-west France. Prior to the battle (actually a series of sub-battles), British and French artillery have heavily bombarded German positions in preparation for a grand infantry assault. But when Allied troops climb out of their trenches at 7.30 a.m. this day and go ‘over the top’ they find that barbed wire has not been cut as expected, that the strongly built German defences have survived the shelling, and that the enemy is ready with deadly cross-fire. On the first day of the Somme the British casualties alone are 19,240 killed, 35,493 wounded, and 2,152 missing. Tolkien and the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers are in reserve, but he hears the thunder of the artillery and no doubt sees dead and wounded brought back behind the lines. – Among those killed in action this day is Lieutenant R.Q. Gilson, with the 11th Suffolks near La Boisselle.

2 July 1916 The 11th Battalion waits in readiness. – At 9.30 a.m. Tolkien attends Mass in a field at Warloy-Baillon.

3–5 July 1916 At 8.30 p.m. on 3 July the 11th Battalion parades and marches to Bouzincourt with the rest of the 74th Infantry Brigade, reaching it at midnight. Captain Lionel Ferguson of the 13th Cheshires, who followed the same route on this day, will write in his diary: ‘We left Warloy at dusk, meeting a very tired Highland Division coming out of the show. It was a sight new to me to see really tired men, they were just walking along in twos and threes, holding each other up for support, unshaved, covered with mud, and war worn, in fact never have I seen troops in worse condition’ (quoted in Malcolm Brown, The Imperial War Museum Book of the Somme (1996; reissued 2002), p. 118). Tolkien is able to sleep in a hut for the rest of that night and the two following nights. The 11th Battalion remains in reserve at Bouzincourt until 6 July and is kept occupied with drilling, training, and inspections.

?3–8 July 1916 During this period Tolkien writes two poems, A Dream of Coming Home and A Memory of July in England. The earliest manuscript of the first, dedicated ‘To my wife’, is dated ‘Bouzincourt July 4–8 1916’ and refers to ‘a vision of Great Haywood in May’. A later inscription on another manuscript assigns it to ‘Bouzincourt during the British barrage July 3 (?) 1916’. The manuscript of A Memory of July in England is dated ‘Bouzincourt July 7–8 1916’.

6 July 1916 At 1.00 p.m. A and C companies of the 11th Battalion parade and move to Usna Hill, arriving at about 4.00 p.m. At 11.00 p.m. they proceed to the trenches at La Boisselle. Two companies, including Tolkien, remain with the brigade at Bouzincourt to act as carrying parties for rations and ammunition. He re-reads ‘Edith’s letters with news from home and glance[s] once again at his collection of notes from the other members of the T.C.B.S.’ (Humphrey Carpenter, Biography, p. 83).

6–8 July 1916 G.B. Smith arrives in Bouzincourt on 6 July. When free from duties he and Tolkien meet on 6, 7, and 8 July, before Smith returns to the front. They talk as often as they can, ‘discussing poetry, the war, and the future. Once they walked in a field where poppies still waved in the wind despite the battle that was turning the countryside into a featureless desert of mud’ (Biography, p. 83).

7 July 1916 Companies A and C relieve the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles in the trenches at 1.00 a.m., and are later sent over the top to help consolidate a position in some newly-captured German trenches near Ovillers. Enemy defensive fire is constant, and losses are heavy. In the afternoon, A Company is pulled back.

8–10 July 1916 C Company of the 11th Battalion overshoots the German trench that is its objective and finds itself in an exposed position. Although carrying parties from B and D Companies bring them supplies of wire and tools and help with the work during the night of 8–9 July, their position remains too exposed, and at 3.00 p.m. on 9 July they withdraw to the front line trenches held by A Company, having suffered heavy casualties. A and C Companies are relieved during the night of 9–10 July. Tolkien writes in his diary: ‘Battalion went into action between Ovillers and La Boisselle on Thursday [6th], coming out on Sunday night [9th] – I was in “B” team remained in Bouzincourt’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). See note.

10–13 July 1916 A and C Companies arrive at Bouzincourt at 7.00 a.m. on 10 July. At 4.00 p.m. the whole battalion parades and marches to Senlis-le-Sec, arriving about 6.00 p.m. There, over the next few days, it will be re-equipped and reorganized to fill gaps after the losses of 7–10 July: these include 2 officers and 10 other ranks killed, 3 officers and 112 other ranks wounded, 1 officer and 43 other ranks missing. On 12 July, after company training, the battalion marches at 10.00 a.m. to Albert to make room for the 9th Loyal North Lancashires, but are then recalled to Senlis-le-Sec.

12 July 1916 Smith sends Tolkien a field postcard on which he has ticked ‘I am quite well’.

14 July 1916 The 11th Battalion parades at 10.20 a.m. and moves to Usna Hill, where it bivouacks from 1.00 p.m. At 8.20 p.m. it proceeds to the front line trenches at La Boisselle. The men have to stumble through the long communications trenches to reach the front line, passing corpses ‘horribly torn by the shells. Those that still had faces stared with dreadful eyes’ (Biography, p. 83). Tolkien will find the communications system in chaos, and that many of the systems in which he has been carefully trained cannot be used since the Germans have succeeded in tapping field telephones, Morse code buzzers might be heard by the enemy, and visual signals might be seen by the Germans on higher ground. An attack by the 7th Infantry Brigade at 11.00 p.m. fails.

15 July 1916 A and B Companies of the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers take part in a second attack, going over the top at 2.00 a.m. ‘No Man’s Land’ between the opposing lines is now a sea of mud marked by barriers of barbed wire and scattered with bloated, decaying bodies it has been too dangerous to recover. The Lancashire Fusiliers suffer heavy losses from machine-gun fire and have to withdraw to the front line trenches. Later that day they move back to dugouts around La Boisselle to serve as support troops for their own 74th Infantry Brigade, who are preparing for another attack on Ovillers. Tolkien will note in his diary that he saw action at Ovillers on 15 July but slept in a dugout at La Boisselle. It is not clear whether, as a Signalling Officer, he would have gone over the top or remained in the front line trenches to manage communications. – Smith writes to Tolkien about Gilson’s death; see further, entry for 17 July 1916.

16 July 1916 Men from the 74th Infantry Brigade attack Ovillers at 1.30 a.m. with some success, but at about noon three bombing squads of the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers are ordered to reach a battalion of the 5th Royal Warwickshire Regiment which has been cut off. They attack so strongly that the Germans are driven back to their trenches and eventually surrender at about 7.30 p.m. At 8.00 p.m. the Lancashire Fusiliers reach the beleaguered Warwickshires, and eventually Ovillers is captured. Tolkien will note in his diary that he was in action until relieved during the night.

17 July 1916 The 74th Infantry Brigade is relieved during the night of 16–17 July and arrives at Bouzincourt at 6.00 a.m. Tolkien sleeps during the morning. At 4.30 p.m. the 11th Battalion parades and marches to bivouacs at Forceville, arriving at 6.30 p.m. – Today Tolkien probably receives a letter written by Smith on 15 July (postmarked 16 July): ‘I saw in the paper this morning that Rob has been killed. I am safe but what does that matter. Do please stick to me, you and Christopher. I am very tired and most frightfully depressed at this worst of news. Now one realises in despair what the T.C.B.S. really was. Oh my dear John Ronald what ever are we going to do?’ (quoted in Biography, p. 84). Although Gilson was killed early on 1 July his body was not recovered for some time, and he was at first listed only as missing.

18 July 1916 At 7.45 a.m. the 11th Battalion parades and marches to Beauval for a few days’ rest, arriving at 1.30 p.m. The men spend the rest of the day cleaning up.

19 July 1916 After physical training by company, the 11th Battalion parades at 10.00 a.m. for reorganization. At 2.30 p.m. the 74th Infantry Brigade is inspected by Major-General E.G.T. Bainbridge, General Officer Commanding the 25th Division. – Tolkien records in his diary the expenses of a dinner for himself and five other officers of A Company.

20 July 1916 The 11th Battalion spend the day in training at Beauval. At midnight Lieutenant W.H. Reynolds, to this point the Battalion Signalling Officer, takes over command of Brigade Signals. Tolkien succeeds him as Signalling Officer of the 11th Battalion.

21 July 1916 At 10.00 a.m. the 74th Infantry Brigade parades and marches to billets at Bus-lès-Artois, arriving at 4.00 p.m., having had dinner on the way. Tolkien will note in his diary that he slept in huts in a wood this night and the two following nights.

22 July 1916 Lieutenant Ralph S. Payton, one of Tolkien’s friends from King Edward’s School, is killed on the Somme while leading his machine gunners into action.

22–23 July 1916 The 11th Battalion is kept busy with more training at Buslès-Artois.

23 July 1916 In the morning, Tolkien attends a Roman Catholic service.

24 July 1916 At 10.00 a.m. the 74th Infantry Brigade, including the 11th Battalion, parades and marches to Mailly-Maillet. They arrive around noon and are served dinner. The 74th is to relieve the 87th Infantry Brigade. The large wood south-west of the village is often used for troop encampments. At 1.30 p.m. each platoon of the 11th Battalion is guided from the wood to the front line trenches at Beaumont-Hamel by a member of the 1st Border Regiment, whom the battalion is relieving. The relief is completed at about 5.00 p.m. The Battalion diary will note: ‘Trenches very good + a good supply of deep dugouts for men’. A, B, and D Companies are in the front line, with C Company in support.

25 July 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien, praising his poem The Lonely Isle.

25–29 July 1916 Except for occasional shelling which causes six deaths, the 11th Battalion spends much of this relatively quiet period repairing and strengthening existing trenches as well as digging new ones and a headquarters area for the battalion and the brigade. At night men excavate forward dugouts and set up wire barriers. The communications system is mended and strengthened. An armoured cable is laid between battle headquarters and the battalions in line. On the night of 28–29 July patrols sent out to examine enemy wire are unable to do so because of hostile fire. On 29 July two German aeroplanes circle for from 5.00 to 7.00 p.m. until driven away by anti-aircraft fire. During this period Tolkien spends his nights in trenches near Auchonvillers and Beaumont-Hamel.

30 July 1916 The 11th Battalion is relieved at 4.00 a.m. by the 9th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and returns to Mailly-Maillet as part of the Division reserve. Tolkien will note in his diary that he slept in the wood at Mailly-Maillet on the nights of 30 July to 4 August.

31 July 1916 The men of the 11th Battalion take baths. New men are trained on Lewis Guns (light machine guns) and bombing.

1 August 1916 Minden Day. At 9.30 a.m., following physical drill, the 11th Battalion commemorates with a ceremonial parade the Lancashire Fusiliers’ part in the Battle of Minden on 1 August 1759, a famous victory against the French during the Seven Years’ War. In late morning there is training, and in the afternoon sporting competitions are held: Inter-Company Drill Competition, Blindfold Boxing, Potato Race, Inter-Company Relay Race, and Inter-Company Tug-of-War. At 6.00 p.m. the 74th Infantry Brigade Troupe gives a concert. The officers dine with staff captain Major G.C.S. Hodgson. During the night working parties from the battalion help to repair trenches.

2–4 August 1916 The 11th Battalion, still in reserve, is occupied with drilling and training. Working parties assist day and night in work on dugouts and trenches for the 74th Infantry Brigade headquarters.

4 August 1916 (postmark) Smith writes to Tolkien, probably enclosing a letter Wiseman had written to Smith on hearing of Gilson’s death, in which Smith has underlined parts. When Tolkien receives it he too marks certain parts and adds his comments.

5 August 1916 The 11th Battalion, relieved of reserve duties at Mailly-Maillet by the 1st Leicestershires, marches to a camp between Acheux and Bertrancourt, arriving at 2.00 p.m. Tolkien will note in his diary that he slept in a tent at Bertrancourt on the nights of 5 and 6 August.

6 August 1916 At 10.00 a.m. Tolkien attends a Roman Catholic service in the church at Bertrancourt. In the afternoon, the 11th Battalion undergoes more training.

7 August 1916 In the morning the 11th Battalion is given physical training. Lieutenant-Colonel L.G. Bird, Commanding Officer of the 11th Battalion, orders an advance party consisting of Second Lieutenant G.A. Potts, Second Lieutenant Tolkien, the battalion sergeant major, and four company sergeant majors to report to battalion headquarters in the trenches at 11.00 am. The rest of the battalion is to parade at 1.00 pm, then at 1.30 p.m. to proceed to the trenches. The Headquarters Signallers are to leave first, followed by D and C Companies, the Battalion Bombers, and A and B Companies. Officers’ kits for the trenches are to be handed in to the Quartermaster by noon, carefully and legibly labelled. By 5.30 p.m. the battalion arrives at its destination, opposite Beaumont-Hamel with the villages of Colincamps and Mailly-Maillet to the rear. On arrival it immediately begins to repair trenches damaged by enemy action. See note. Tolkien will note in his diary that he slept in the sucrérie at Mailly-Maillet, south-east of Colincamps, on the nights of 7 to 9 August; in fact the ruined sugar refinery is nearer to Colincamps.

8 August 1916 R.H. Gordon of Exeter College is killed in action on the Somme.

8–9 August 1916 The 11th Battalion proceeds with trench repairs, interrupted only when under fire; four men are killed and four wounded.

10 August 1916 Relieved by the 1st Welsh Guards in the afternoon, the 11th Battalion marches to Bus-lès-Artois. Lieutenant-Colonel Bird’s orders for this operation instruct companies to report completion of relief by wire to battalion headquarters, and specify that all officers’ kits and other stores for transport are to be at the Dump at the end of Cheeroh Avenue (the main communication trench to the front line) no later than 3.00 p.m., with officers’ servants in attendance. If required, some of the signalling personnel are to stay in the line until 11 August to ensure the smooth working of communications; but Tolkien will record that he slept that night, and the following four nights, in the ‘same billets as before at Bus[-lès-Artois]’. In the evening he goes into a nearby wood, thinks about Gilson, and considers Wiseman’s letter (see entry for 4 August).

11–14 August 1916 The 11th Battalion remains at Bus-lès-Artois, occupied with drills, training, inspections, and boxing competitions, and on 13 August with baths. The 25th Divisional Engineers conduct training in visual signalling, and in office wiring and cable joining.

11 August 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien, thanking him for a letter (written probably before Tolkien received Wiseman’s letter from Smith) and commenting, presumably in response to something Tolkien wrote, that he thinks ‘there are still a great many sober men and true’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). – In the evening, Tolkien again goes into the wood to sit and think.

12–13 August 1916 Tolkien writes a letter to Smith, thanking him for sending Wiseman’s letter. Tolkien has thought much since receiving it, and finds that he no longer agrees with the comments he made on it:

What I meant, and thought Chris meant, and am almost sure you meant, was that the T.C.B.S. had been granted some spark of fire – certainly as a body if not singly – that was destined to kindle a new light, or, what is the same thing, rekindle an old light in the world; that the T.C.B.S. was destined to testify for God and Truth in a more direct way even than by laying down its several lives in this war (which is for all the evil of our own side in the large view good against evil). So far my chief impression is that something has gone crack. I feel just the same to both of you – nearer if anything and very much in need of you – I am hungry and lonely of course – but I don’t feel a member of a little complete body now. I honestly feel that the T.C.B.S. has ended – but I am not at all sure that it is not an unreliable feeling that will vanish – like magic perhaps when we come together again. Still I feel a mere individual at present – with intense feelings more than ideas but very powerless. [Letters, p. 10]

He hopes that those who are left will be able to continue its work. He ends by saying that if the letter seems incoherent it was ‘due to its being written at different sittings amongst the noise of a very boring Company mess’. He wishes that he could write more but has much to do (now on the 13th, a Sunday): ‘The Bde Sig. Offr. [Brigade Signalling Officer] is after me for a confabulation, and I have two rows to have with the QM [Quartermaster] and a detestable 6.30 parade – 6.30 p.m. of a sunny Sabbath’ (Letters, pp. 9–10).

14 August 1916 Robert Cary Gilson, Head Master of King Edward’s School, replies to a letter of sympathy Tolkien sent to him on the death of his son. Rob Gilson’s will directs that Tolkien should have some of his books or drawings.

15 August 1916 At 10.00 a.m. the 11th Battalion parades and marches to ‘hutments’ in the wood at Acheux-en-Amiénois, arriving at 1.00 p.m. They will remain there, occupied with training and drilling, until 19 August, when they will march to Hédauville and then on to the trenches at Thiepval on 20 August; Tolkien however will be on a signalling course (see below). – Smith writes to Tolkien, not yet having received his letter of 12–13 August. He cannot sleep for memories of Rob Gilson and of the last time he saw him. He thinks that in some ways Rob is to be envied: ‘After all he is out of the great struggle of life, and it often seems that rest and peace are a great boon…. I wish I could find you – I search for you everywhere’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford).

16–23 August 1916 Tolkien attends a course for the Battalion Signalling Officers in the 25th Division. The rest of the 11th Battalion is involved in other activities. Tolkien will note in his diary that he slept in the wood at Acheux on the nights of 15 to 17 August, at battalion headquarters at Acheux on 18 August, and at ‘billet 89 Acheux’ from 19 to 23 August.

19–22 August 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien on 19 August that he received his long letter (of 12–13 August) the day before and disagrees with much of it:

The idea that the T.C.B.S. has stopped is for me entirely impossible…. The T.C.B.S. is not so much a society as an influence on the state of being. I never for two consecutive seconds believed in the four-idealfriends theory except in its very widest sense as a highly important and very worthy communion of living souls. That such an influence on the state of being could come to an end with Rob’s loss is to me a preposterous idea…. The T.C.B.S. is not finished and never will be.

He returns Tolkien’s letter with ‘some rather curt and perhaps rude comments’. He had hoped to see Tolkien on 19 August as both Tolkien’s battalion and Smith’s are in Hédauville, but found that Tolkien was away on a course; but they are sure to meet soon, and ‘I am not quite sure whether I shall shake you by the hand or take you by the throat, so enormously do I disagree with your letter and agree with myself!’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). In fact he sees Tolkien later that day, and again each day on 20, 21, and 22 August.

22 August 1916 Tolkien, Smith, and H.T. Wade-Gery have dinner at Bouzincourt, and are shelled while eating. This is the last time that Tolkien will see G.B. Smith. Possibly on this date, Wade-Gery presents to Tolkien a copy of The Earthly Paradise by William Morris, vol. 5 of the Collected Works edited by Morris’s daughter May.

23 August 1916 The signalling course ends.

24 August 1916 Tolkien leaves Acheux, travels by way of Hédauville, and rejoins his battalion who are occupying trenches at the edge of a wood near Thiepval, a German stronghold and the focus of an Allied assault.

24–26 August 1916 The 11th Battalion spends most of this time constructing new trenches while other units take a more active role, but even so there are casualties due to shelling. – Tolkien writes two poems. He dates the manuscript of the first, The Thatch of Poppies, to ‘Acheux Hédauville Thiepval Aug[ust] 24–25 1916’. He dedicates the second, The Forest Walker, ‘To Buslès-Artois Wood’, and in it obliquely refers to his feelings when he had gone to that wood on 10 and 11 August to think about Rob Gilson’s death. He will later write on one manuscript of The Forest Walker: ‘HQ [headquarters] dugout Thiepval Wood Aug[ust] 25–26’. He will note in his diary having slept in a dugout at Thiepval on the nights of 24 and 25 August.

26–27 August 1916 From about 5.00 to 10.45 p.m. on 26 August the 11th Battalion is relieved by the 1/5 West Yorkshire Regiment, under shelling. The battalion marches to Bouzincourt, arriving at about 1.00 a.m. on 27 August. The men rest and clean up.

28–31 August 1916 At 4.00 a.m. on 28 August the 11th Battalion parades and marches to relieve the 4th Royal Berkshire and 5th Gloucester Regiments in trenches north of Ovillers, near the Leipzig Salient. The battalion works day and night to repair and strengthen the trenches, ankle-deep in water, hindered by heavy rain and shelling. Although the Battalion diary will describe each of these days as ‘quiet’, five men are killed and thirty wounded. Tolkien as Battalion Signalling Officer helps to install, or supervises the installation of, a new system of cables connecting the front line with Brigade headquarters. He will note in his diary that he spent the night of 28 August in ‘Specialist mess 88’, and the nights of 29 to 31 August at Ovillers-La-Boisselle. – Close to the trenches is Authuille Wood, described by John Masefield as ‘a romantic and very lovely wood, pleasant with the noise of water. But at its north-eastern end it runs out in a straggling spinney along the Leipzig’s east flank . . Here the enemy fearing for his safety kept up a terrible barrage. The trees are burnt, ragged, unbarked, topped and cut off short, the trenches are blown in and jumbled, and the ground blasted and gouged’ (The Old Front Line (1917), p. 65).

1–5 September 1916 On 1 September the 11th Battalion leaves the front line, exchanging places with the 9th Loyal North Lancashires who have been in support. The 11th Battalion spends the next few days cleaning up the relief trenches, but also sends working parties to the front line and communications trenches to aid the Royal Engineers. Tolkien is probably involved with the laying of more cables between each battalion and Brigade headquarters. He will note in his diary that he spent the nights of 1 to 5 September at Ovillers-La-Boisselle.

6 September 1916 The 11th Battalion is relieved by the 6th South Staffordshires and marches to bivouacs 500 yards east of Bouzincourt. See note. The men spend the day cleaning and reorganizing. Probably at about this time a letter written on 25 August by the mother of Thomas Gaskin, asking for information about the death of her son, is passed to Tolkien for reply. See note.

7–12 September 1916 The men of the 11th Battalion proceed in stages to Franqueville for a long training session. They are carefully ordered to march, on their way from Bouzincourt, through the southern outskirts of Beauquesne, not through the centre; that four companies, each with its signallers, Lewis Gun teams, and bombers will leave at five-minute intervals, followed by transport, with the first company leaving at 8.20 a.m.; that at 8.00 a.m. the battalion’s second in command will inspect the billets they are leaving to be sure they are perfectly clean; that all officers’ kits and company stores are to be at the quartermaster’s stores no later than 6.00 a.m., with officers’ servants in attendance; and that care is to be taken when observing the regulation halt of ten minutes each hour, to prevent closing up of the column. The battalion reaches Léalvillers on 7 September (Tolkien spends the night in a billet), Puchevillers on the 8th (Tolkien sleeps two nights in a bivouac; 9 September is spent in drilling and reorganizing), Beauval on the 10th, Candas on the 11th, and Franqueville on the 12th. Tolkien will note in his diary that he spent the nights of 10, 11, and 12 September in billets.

10 September 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien, asking him to send a field postcard telling how he is. He has heard from R.W. Reynolds but has had nothing from Wiseman for ages. – Tolkien will note in his diary that he attended Mass this day, presumably at Beauval.

13–24 September 1916 In Franqueville the 11th Battalion, with the rest of the 74th Brigade, spends time with drills, parades, and inspections, and in physical, company, and specialist training. On 17 September the men are given a demonstration of drill and guard mounting by staff of the 4th Army School. On 22 September there is a battalion competition in bayonet fighting and assaulting. On 24 September the officers of the 74th Brigade take part in a staff ride held by their Commanding Officer, Brigadier-General Armytage. During this period the Divisional Engineers train six men for each battalion in visual signalling. A second trained signalling officer is now posted to the 11th Battalion, Second Lieutenant Leslie Risdon Huxtable. – Tolkien revises his poem The Mermaid’s Flute (first composed in March 1915), and probably writes a new poem, later dated ‘Franqueville? Sept[ember].’ The latter, beginning ‘O Lady Mother throned amid the stars’, will be called Consolatrix Afflictorum and Stella Vespertina.

15 September 1916 *John Mackreth of Exeter College, once a member of the Apolausticks, is killed in action on the Somme.

16 September 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien, enclosing a letter from Wiseman. Wiseman has sent copies of the letters Smith and Tolkien had sent Wiseman in the winter of 1914, and while reading them Smith realizes that Tolkien was right when he said that they have changed. Smith apparently has had a letter from Tolkien letting off steam, as he says: ‘I am intensely sorry to hear of your frictions with others. I know how one officer can make a beast of himself to his junior, if he is a swine enough to do so’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). Wiseman, writing from HMS Superb on 30 August and 4 September, says that he has been reading through his ‘TCBSian’ archive of correspondence and can see the changes and development in the group.

25–27 September 1916 The 11th Battalion makes its way back to the front line, mainly on foot, but on 25 September partly by motor bus. The men spend the night of the 25th at Forceville and of the 26th at Hédauville. They reach bivouacs near Bouzincourt on the 27th. On that evening they make their way through the communication trenches and relieve the 1/7 West Yorkshire Regiment at the front near Thiepval Wood. The battle for Thiepval Ridge having begun on 26 September, the village itself has just fallen, and the Joseph, Schwaben, Zollern, and Hessian Trenches have been captured, but beyond is a German strongpoint, the Schwaben Redoubt. Tolkien will note in his diary that on the night of 26 September he shared a tent with Second Lieutenant Huxtable, and on the night of the 27th he slept in a dugout at Thiepval.

26 September 1916 One of the tanks just introduced into the war by the British Army sticks fast and cannot be moved. It will be one of the sights of Thiepval for months to come.

28–29 September 1916 For much of 28 September the men of the 11th Battalion, in the front line trenches on the edge of Thiepval Wood, have a good view of the attack by the 18th Division on Schwaben Redoubt. At about 6.00 p.m. three patrols from the 11th Battalion, each consisting of thirty men and a Lewis Gun detachment and led by an officer, are sent to occupy trenches the enemy is believed to have abandoned. By 6.45 p.m. they have achieved their objective and taken twenty-one prisoners. They explore the communication trenches leading to the enemy’s close-support line, and during the night take twenty more prisoners and find a quantity of maps and an unopened mailbag. A signaller from the 11th Battalion, Lance-Corporal A. Fletcher, later will be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for using a discarded German torch to communicate with the front line when his own lamp is smashed, and for rescuing a wounded man. Early on the morning of 29 September, with the enemy still strongly holding its support line, an advance position is moved back slightly to consolidate and strengthen the front line. Tolkien will note in his diary that he was in action at Thiepval during the nights of 28 and 29 September. – The prisoners taken at the Schwaben Redoubt include men from a Saxon regiment which had fought alongside the Lancashire Fusiliers against the French at Minden in 1759. Tolkien speaks in German to one of the captured officers and offers him a drink of water; the officer corrects his pronunciation. In a moment of calm while the guns are silent, Tolkien’s hand is on the receiver of a trench telephone when a field-mouse runs across his fingers.

30 September 1916 The 11th Battalion is relieved by the 7th Royal West Kents during the early morning and marches to Englebelmer, arriving at 8.00 a.m. The men spend the day cleaning up and resting.

1–5 October 1916 At 11.00 a.m. on 1 October the 11th Battalion parades and marches to a camp at W8 Central, near Bouzincourt, arriving at about 12.30 p.m. The men spend the next few days in company and specialist training, including a battalion attack practice on 2 October.

3 October 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien, saying he has not heard from him for a very long time.

6–9 October 1916 On 6–7 October the 74th Brigade relieves the 75th Brigade at Mouquet Farm, a fortified position recently captured from the Germans. The 11th Lancashire Fusiliers relieve the 11th Cheshires and take up position in the front line in the recently captured Zollern and Hessian Trenches and in the Fabeck support trench east of Thiepval. Although the Germans have lost their forward trenches they are holding out in parts of the Schwaben and Stuff Redoubts. During the next few days and nights the men of the 11th Battalion spend much of their time under heavy shelling, repairing and deepening old trenches, digging new trenches to gunpits in No Man’s Land, and laying and burying new communication lines. – On 7 October the signal office of the 74th Brigade is moved two hundred yards from its original site, entailing extra cable-laying for the signals engineers. On 9 October two shells hit the signals dugout, and communications have to be repaired. The Stuff Redoubt is finally taken on this date. – Tolkien will note in his diary that he spent the nights of 6 to 12 October at Battalion headquarters in front of Mouquet Farm.

10–12 October 1916 On 10 October B Company of the 11th Battalion stays in the front line in Zollern Trench while A, C, and D companies are relieved by the 9th Loyal North Lancashires and the 13th Cheshires and retire to Fabeck and Midway support trenches near Mouquet Farm. The men continue to dig and improve trenches. On 10 October Second Lieutenant Huxtable is wounded. Throughout this period at the front Tolkien is probably kept very busy, as the new buried communication lines are difficult to install and some are damaged by shelling.

13–16 October 1916 On 13 October the 11th Battalion relieves the 13th Cheshires and returns to the front line in Zollern and Hessian Trenches. They again spend time digging and rewiring. Battalion headquarters is moved to Zollern Redoubt, where Tolkien spends the nights of 13 to 16 October. On 14 October the Schwaben Redoubt is finally taken.

16–17 October 1916 The 11th Cheshires relieve A and B Companies of the 11th Battalion on 16 October and D Company on 17 October; these retire to support trenches near Mouquet Farm while C Company stays in the front line. In the afternoon of 16 October three German planes fly overhead. In the evening of 17 October the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers move to Ovillers Post, where Tolkien spends the night at Battalion headquarters. – The British generals are planning another major assault, hoping to capture the German Regina Trench and the high ground held by the enemy before winter comes. The attack will be made from Hessian Trench, which faces Regina Trench and is separated from it by a space varying from two hundred to five hundred yards. Every effort is made to obtain as much information about the terrain and enemy positions as possible. A map issued to Tolkien shows ‘information obtained from prisoners [and] Trenches corrected from air photos taken 17-10-16’; at some point he adds to it the position of a ‘phone’ and ‘WF’, code letters for the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers (a reproduction of the map appears in Life and Legend, p. 32).

18 October 1916 The 11th Battalion receives Operation Order No. T26 (see note) and spends the day preparing for battle. At 10.30 p.m. the men march towards the front line. A patrol consisting of a captain and a second lieutenant examines the enemy wire. Tolkien will note in his diary that he spent that night at Battalion headquarters near ‘Lancs Trench’ (Zollern Trench).

19 October 1916 The 11th Battalion reaches Hessian Trench at 4.00 a.m. The attack is meant to take place this day, but constant heavy rain has damaged the trenches, the saturated ground makes movement difficult, the lines of communication between Brigade and Division headquarters have gone down during the night, and the rain, together with mist, makes visual signals impossible. The assault postponed for forty-eight hours, the battalion returns to Ovillers Post, where Tolkien spends the night at Battalion headquarters.

20 October 1916 In the afternoon, the 11th Battalion is drawn up at Ovillers Post, organized into groups to proceed up the narrow trenches, and issued bombs, sandbags, and other stores from ‘K’ Dump at Ovillers on the way to Hessian Trench. 74th Infantry Brigade Signals will complain that Battalion Signalling Officers did not keep them informed about the progress of units moving into the front line. Tolkien spends the night at Battalion headquarters, again near ‘Lancs Trench’.

21 October 1916 The last members of the 11th Battalion reach their position in Hessian Trench at about 3.00 a.m. The men spend the rest of the night improving the trenches and the means of leaving them quickly at the start of the attack. The Brigade signal report centre has been set up unusually close to the front line, and the various battalion headquarters are in dugouts in the front line of Hessian Trench. Tolkien is presumably stationed at 11th Battalion headquarters, at the position he marked as ‘WF’ on his map; he will record in his diary that on the nights of 21 and 22 October he was in action in Hessian Trench. The 11th Lancashire Fusiliers have been set the task of taking a five hundred-yard section of Regina Trench where it is at its closest to Hessian Trench. Just after noon the British artillery begin heavy firing, and three waves of assault troops go over the top at short intervals, trying to synchronize their movements with the barrage. When men of the 11th Battalion rush into Regina Trench they find the enemy unprepared, though there is resistance at one or two points, and they manage to link up with other regiments to their left and right. The 25th Division Engineers will report that communications throughout the attack were very satisfactory, though information did not always get back to Division headquarters as well as might have been expected. The 11th Battalion achieves its objective by 12.50 p.m. News of its success is sent to Division headquarters by carrier pigeon. But the battalion has paid heavily for its success with 15 killed, 26 missing, and 117 wounded. See further, note. The survivors spend the rest of the day consolidating their position in Regina Trench, digging connecting trenches back to Hessian Trench, laying communication lines, and destroying the German communication trenches to Regina Trench.

22 October 1916 The Germans shell Regina Trench heavily. At 4.00 p.m. the 11th Battalion is relieved by the 7th Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment. When the battalion reaches Ovillers Post the men are given hot soup and then marched to a camp north of the Albert-Bouzincourt road. Tolkien will note in his diary having slept this night at a camp ‘near Albert’.

23 October 1916 The 11th Battalion is inspected by Brigadier-General Bethell, commander of the 74th Brigade. The men then travel to Vadencourt Wood by motor-bus, where they are inspected by Major-General Bainbridge, commanding the 25th Division. Tolkien spends the night in hutments at Vadencourt.

24 October 1916 The 11th Battalion marches in the rain to Beauval. The men spend the rest of day cleaning up. Tolkien will note in his diary that he spent the nights of 24 to 27 October in a billet at Rue de L’Epinette, Beauval.

25 October 1916 The 11th Battalion is inspected by General Sir Hubert Gough, commanding the 5th Army, who compliments the men on their work. During the day, Tolkien begins to feel ill.

26 October 1916 In the morning, the men of the 11th Battalion have baths. In the afternoon, they are inspected by Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander-in-Chief. In the evening there is a concert in Beauval Mairie.

27 October 1916 Tolkien reports sick with a temperature of 103 degrees. Nevertheless he spends the night in his billet at Beauval.

28 October 1916 By evening at the latest, Tolkien is in the Officers’ Hospital at Gézaincourt. He is suffering from ‘trench fever’, a highly infectious disease carried by lice. The crowded and squalid conditions in the trenches mean that some 97 per cent of the soldiers are infested by lice, and trench fever is common. The sickness usually begins with a headache, giddiness, and muscular pain especially in the shins, and lasts a few days, followed by a remission and then a relapse, or often a series of relapses and remissions. It is only after the war ends that the louse will be found to be the carrier.

29 October 1916 Tolkien is put on the sick train at Candas and travels via Étaples to Le Touquet. He is admitted to No. 1 British Red Cross Hospital, also known as the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital.

30 October–7 November 1916 Tolkien remains in hospital in Le Touquet. He writes to his Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Bird, apparently expressing his regret at leaving the 11th Battalion and his hope that when he returns to the front it will be to the same battalion. – He also writes a poem, Morning Tea. Although its manuscript includes the (later?) note ‘Duch[ess] of Westminster’s Hospital Le Touquet Nov[ember] 8 1916’, it must have been composed no later than the morning of the 7th, if in fact it was written in hospital at Le Touquet.

7 November 1916 Tolkien travels by train via Étaples to Le Havre, spending the night en route.

8 November 1916 At Le Havre Tolkien embarks on the hospital ship HMHS Asturias. Later he will note in his diary that the Asturias was torpedoed by the Germans the following year (20 March 1917), but although badly damaged, she was not sunk.

9 November 1916 The Asturias leaves Le Havre, possibly during the night, and arrives at Southampton on the same day. Tolkien then travels by train to Birmingham and is admitted to the 1st Southern General Hospital, set up in the grand arched halls and corridors of the University of Birmingham at Edgbaston. See note. – Captain E. Munday, Adjutant of the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers, replies to Tolkien’s letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Bird. The Commanding Officer cannot ensure that Tolkien will be posted to the same battalion when he returns to the front, but suggests that he write at once when he is posted to a battalion depot, and the 11th Battalion will request him. He encloses a separate letter dated 9 November (the letter to Tolkien is dated 8 November) which Tolkien should submit to the authorities as soon as he is passed fit to return to duty. This letter requests that Tolkien be returned to the 11th Battalion as soon as possible. Lieutenant-Colonel Bird ‘values the services of Lt. Tolkien very highly’; in his absence his signallers are under a non-commissioned officer, and his services are badly needed. The battalion is very short of officers. The envelope in which these letters are sent is postmarked ‘Field Post Office, 10 Nov. 1916’ and addressed to Tolkien at ‘D. Ward, No. 1 Red Cross Hospital, Le Touquet’, but the address is struck through and the envelope redirected to Great Haywood.

10 November–1 December 1916 During the next few weeks Tolkien is probably visited by Edith, Father Francis, and relatives who live in the Birmingham area. He is also visited by, or manages himself to visit, R.W. Reynolds. On a War Office form dated 22 November he gives his temporary address as c/o T.E. Mitton Esq., Moseley, Birmingham (i.e. Tom Mitton, husband of Tolkien’s paternal Aunt Mabel), but since a later medical report will indicate at least two more weeks before his temperature returns to normal, it is unlikely that he actually leaves the hospital by the 22nd. – Tolkien writes at once to Smith and Wiseman to let them know that he has been shipped home and is in hospital. He encloses his letter to Smith in one to Smith’s mother (Ruth A. Smith), telling her that her son was safe when he last heard from him, and asking her to forward his message. – During November, but after he has returned to Birmingham, Tolkien revises The Town of Dreams and the City of Present Sorrow (see entry for 16–18 March 1916). He also writes the poem The Lonely Harebell, the manuscript of which he will inscribe ‘hospital Birmingham Nov[ember] 1916 (part [?from matter] near Lichfield Sep[tember] 1915 insp[ired] *Cromer 1914)’.

13 November 1916 Mrs Smith writes to thank Tolkien for his news and says that she will forward his letter to her son.

16 November 1916 Smith, having received Tolkien’s letter, replies to him at ‘3 South General Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham’. He is delighted to hear that Tolkien is ‘still alive, if weak and ill as you are bound to be. From your letter I see plainly that you have been through it’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). He hopes to get leave soon and will visit Tolkien and Edith. For the moment he is the Adjutant of his battalion (now camped near the village of Souastre on the Doullens-Arras road). – Christopher Wiseman, on HMS Superb, replies to Tolkien’s letter. He wishes that he could get leave to visit Tolkien in Birmingham, but leave is given only in special circumstances. He suggests that if Tolkien is granted extended sick leave he might visit Wiseman in the north where his ship is based; or if Tolkien and Edith were to visit Wiseman’s mother in Wandsworth, she would welcome them both. Now that Tolkien is free of the censor, Wiseman asks to be told as much as Tolkien knows about Gilson’s death, what engagements he himself has been in, where Smith is, and any news about him. Since their ‘skirmish’ in the spring Tolkien has not sent him any of his poetry.

18 November 1916 Smith writes to Tolkien at the General Hospital. He forgot to say in his last letter that he is sure that his mother would be glad to get Tolkien books or anything else he wants, and to visit him. – The Battle of the Somme officially ends.

22 November 1916 Tolkien completes a War Office form, recording the date he left his unit while overseas, when he embarked for and arrived in England, the name of the vessel on which he travelled, and the cause of his return (trench fever), among other details.

27 November 1916 A letter is sent from the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion to the South General Hospital, Edgbaston, directing that orders should be issued for Tolkien at an early date. See note.

29 November 1916 Smith is hit by shrapnel when his battalion is shelled. Although wounded in his right arm and thigh, he is able to walk to the dressing station to wait for an ambulance. He writes to his mother that his wounds are not serious.

2 December 1916 Tolkien is examined by a Medical Board at the 1st Southern General Hospital. Although his temperature has been normal for a week, he is still suffering from headaches and pains in the leg and is very weak. The Board declares him unfit for any service for the next six weeks and grants him leave from 9 December 1916 to 12 January 1917. By this date he has been attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, based at Thirtle Bridge on the east coast of England near Hull. – By now, Smith’s wounds are considered dangerous. Gas gangrene has set in.

3 December 1916 G.B. Smith dies at 3.30 a.m.

8 December 1916 Wiseman writes a long letter to Tolkien, mainly about politics and the war. He thanks Tolkien for his letter and for his latest poems. He hopes that Tolkien will begin to publish, and is convinced that ‘if you do come out in print you will startle our generation as no one has yet’ (Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford). He knows that R.W. Reynolds thought Tolkien much influenced by Francis Thompson, and that Tolkien has studied Thompson deeply, but Wiseman cannot see any obvious connection. Tolkien apparently having expressed a wish to join the Royal Engineers, Wiseman suggests that he write to Brigadier-General Sir John Barnsley (T.K. Barnsley’s father), who might be able to help.

9 December 1916 Between now and mid-December Tolkien travels to Great Haywood to spend his leave with Edith.

16 December 1916 (postmarked 18 December) Wiseman writes a brief letter to Tolkien to say that he has just received news from home that G.B. Smith died on 3 December. His letter is addressed to Tolkien at the 1st Southern General Hospital but is redirected to Great Haywood. Soon after Tolkien receives this letter, he sends his condolences to Smith’s mother.

22 December 1916 Mrs Smith responds to Tolkien’s message with details of her son’s last days. Since Smith had asked that his poetry be published if he fell, his mother asks Tolkien for any of her son’s verses that might be included. – Upon receipt of her letter, Tolkien replies at once. Around this time he also writes to R.W. Reynolds.

?c. 25 December 1916 Tolkien writes a poem, GBS (later G.B.S.) in memory of G.B. Smith. He will later note on a typescript copy ‘Great Haywood Christ[mas] 1916–17’.

26 December 1916 Mrs Smith writes to thank Tolkien for the copy of her son’s verses, and tells him to keep the original.

28 December 1916 R.W. Reynolds replies to a letter from Tolkien. Reynolds is glad that Tolkien has found a congenial spot to convalesce. Mrs Smith has been in touch with him too about her son’s wish that a book of his poems should be published; Reynolds asks if Tolkien knows anything of Smith’s wishes in this matter. He understands that Mrs Smith has also written to H.T. Wade-Gery.

End of 1916–first half of 1917 Tolkien begins to write the first prose version of his mythology, The Book of Lost Tales, either while still in the 1st Southern General Hospital or after going on sick leave to Great Haywood on 9 December 1916. One of the first parts to be written is The Cottage of Lost Play, which introduces the framework of the tales: a mariner, Eriol, reaches the island of Tol Eressëa and hears from the fairies (or elves) who dwell there stories of the creation of the world and its subsequent history. In the mythology as originally conceived, Tol Eressëa will be eventually uprooted and moved across the sea to become England. – Another part written at this time is a story from near the end of the mythology, Tuor and the Exiles of Gondolin (*‘Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin’), which Tolkien will tend to call simply The Fall of Gondolin. See note. – Tolkien also continues to work on his invented languages. He makes additions to the Qenyaqetsa, and traces the ‘development’ of the language from an earlier form, Primitive Eldarin. He begins to develop another Elvish language, Gnomish or Goldogrin, also with roots in Primitive Eldarin; eventually this will become ‘Sindarin’. Possibly as early as the end of 1916, but no later than early 1917, Tolkien begins work on a Gnomish grammar, Lam na nGoldathon (‘Tongue of the Gnomes’, *Gnomish Grammar) and a Gnomish lexicon, i·Lam na·Ngoldathon ‘Goldogrin’ (*Gnomish Lexicon). – It is perhaps during his time of convalescence at Great Haywood that Tolkien draws heraldic devices for three places in England of great significance to himself and Edith, the village of Great Haywood and the towns of Warwick and Cheltenham, to which he gives names in Goldogrin: Tavrobel, Kortirion, and Celbaros.

?1916–?1919 While working on The Book of Lost Tales Tolkien keeps a notebook, originally inscribed ‘Names and Lang[uage] to Book of Lost Tales’ (later ‘Notebook B’). This includes a list of words in Eldarissa (i.e. Qenya), a chart of races of beings, and a table comparing two forms of the proper names in the story of Tuor (see *The Poetic and Mythologic Words of Eldarissa, *‘Early Chart of Names’, *Official Name List). Associated with this notebook are various tables and lists on loose sheets (see *The Creatures of the Earth, *‘Matar and Tulir’, *‘Names of the Valar’, *Kainendan, and *Otsan). – Probably in this period Tolkien also writes *‘Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin’, derived from the Official Name List; a parallel list of Qenya names from The Cottage of Lost Play with Gnomish (Goldogrin) equivalents (*Names and Required Alterations); and, related to the Qenyaqetsa, a description of the conjugation of the verb in Qenya (*The Qenya Verb Forms).