The name Tolkien is believed to be of German origin, yet somehow J.R.R. Tolkien seemed to find himself born in South Africa. His father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, was British, and was a bank clerk in England. Once that started going downhill, he moved to South Africa in the 1890's looking for promotions. There, Arthur wed Mabel Suffield, and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born. In 1896, Arthur died, and Mabel, John (everyone called him Ronald), and his younger brother Hilary, moved to the West Midlands in England. After moving again to King's Heath, right next to a railway, they found a better home in Edgbaston, in Birmingham. In 1900, Mabel and her sister May were both introduced to the Roman Catholic Church. From then on John and Hilary were raised so, and remained devoted Catholics throughout their lives. On October 15, 1904, Mabel died from diabetes, leaving the boys orphaned. The family priest, Father Francis Morgan took over from there. He made sure the boy's spiritual and material needs were met. John and Hilary were also roomed for a short time with an aunt-by-marriage, Beatrice Suffield, and with a lady named Mrs. Faulkner. By this time, Ronald had already mastered the languages of Latin and Greek and was dabbling with making up his own, solely for fun. He had a number of close friends at his school, King Edward's. Ronald and his friends meet up regularly at the "T.C.B.S."(Tea Club, Barrovian Society) to exchange and criticise each other's literary works. Tolkien met Edith Bratt, a fellow lodger at Mrs. Faulkner's house. They grew gradually closer, until Father Francis forbid Ronald from seeing her for three years, until he was twenty-one. Tolkien obeyed, and in the meantime moved to Oxford studying Classics, Old English and Germanic Languages. After a disappointing second-class degree in "Honour Moderations", a halfway point, he switched to English Language and Literature. In 1913, Ronald picked up old threads with Edith, and she converted to Catholicism and moved to Warwick. The following year, World War 1 broke out. Tolkien did not rush to join the army but rather returned to Oxford to finish his studies. In 1916, he got his hard-earned first class degree. In the meantime, Ronald was working on what came to be as the Elven language, Quenya. Tolkien also enlisted as Second Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. After a while, it looked as though Tolkien must soon leave for France, so he and Edith were wed. He was soon afterwards sent to the Western Front. He spent four months in and out of trenches and developed trench-fever due to the unsanitary conditions. He was sent back to England and recovered in a hospital in Birmingham. Tolkien began to shape his stories, which became part of The Book of Lost Tales. Tolkien's illness kept recurring during the next two years, although he had periods of wellness that allowed him to be promoted to Lieutenant. Tolkien and Edith took a walk through the woods when he was stationed at Hull, and here Edith danced for him. This was his inspiration for the story of Beren and Luthien. Tolkien began to refer to himself as Beren and Edith as Luthien, and both were written on their grave. Tolkien and Edith had a son named John Francis Tolkien on November 16, 1917. Tolkien later returned to Oxford as a professor. Tolkien rarely made scholar publications but when he did, they were extremely influential. In 1945, Tolkien changed his chair to the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature, and also taught undergraduates. In 1920, Edith had Micheal Hilary Reuel, and in 1924, Christopher Reuel was born. In 1929, Edith had their last child, Priscilla. Tolkien started writing children's illustrated books for his four children, and often made up bedtime stories for them. One day, while grading exam papers, Tolkien found one of his students had left a page blank, and on this page he wrote In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Tolkien continued to add on to this story and presented it to Susan Dagnall, an employee of the publishing firm of George Allen and Unwin. She suggested Tolkien finish it, and so he did, and presented it to Stanley Unwin, who let his ten year old boy, Rayner, read it. Of course, he loved it, and said it should be published, and so it was. Stanley Unwin suggested that Tolkien make a sequel. Tolkien started working on what would be come the 16 year project, The Lord of the Rings. The three part book was published in 1954 and 1955, and quickly became noticed. In 1965, The Lord of the Rings amazingly went in to a pirated paperback copy. Tolkien was flattered, yet his fans were causing many problems. Tolkien moved and changed his phone number. Between 1925 and his death, Tolkien wrote and published a number of other books including scholarly essays. In 1971, Edith died, and Tolkien moved back to Oxford. In 1973, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien died and was buried with Edith in the northern suburbs of Oxford. After his death, Christopher Tolkien published and edited many of Tolkien's books including The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales, and the twelve volume The History of Middle-Earth. *Information credited to The Tolkien Society.