J. R. R. Tolkien: Biography

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in South Africa. His father, Arthur, worked there as a bank manager with the Bank of America. Arthur died in Africa when Tolkien was four years old, and Tolkien’s mother died eight years later. After his mother’s death, Tolkien was taken care of by Catholic priest Fr. Francis Morgan, their family friend.

Tolkien was educated at King Edwards, where he became interested in the study of languages and began to invent languages of his own, such as the Elvish languages that are to be found in Tolkien’s works. After graduating from Oxford, he married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Bratt. Edith and Tolkien raised four children together. In 1916, he went to France to serve in World War I. After being sent back to England on account of a typhus-like infection, Tolkien settled in Oxford, where he worked as Professor of Anglo-Saxon.

Tolkien’s love of language is reflected in his works, which have their own languages, cultural histories, legends, and myths.