Christina Scull - The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide - Volume 1 - Chronology

27 July–4 August 1909Ronald participates with seventy-one other cadets in the King Edward’s School Officers Training Corps at the Public Schools’ Camp, *Tidworth Pennings on Salisbury Plain. They travel there by special train on 27 July. Although it rains that day, the remaining days at camp have fine weather. The King Edward’s School contingent are in one of four battalions given thorough training, culminating in ‘a grand field day, known officially as the Battle of Silk Hill, wherein nearly 20,000 troops of all arms, Regulars and Territorials, took part’ (‘Officers’ Training Corps’, King Edward’s School Chronicle n.s. 24, no. 177 (November 1909), p. 81). One of Ronald’s contemporaries at King Edward’s School will later recall that ‘he and I and six others occupied one bell tent. One evening Tolkien came charging in, leapt up and clasped the central pole high up and slid down it to the ground, not having noticed that someone had fixed a candle to the pole with his clasp knife. Tolkien must still carry the scar of the very nasty cut that resulted’ (William H. Tait, letter to the editor, Old Edwardians Gazette , June 1972, p. 17).

Summer 1909Ronald spends part of the summer holidays at Rednal working for an Oxford scholarship.

Autumn term 1909Ronald’s friends Rob Gilson, W.H. Payton and his brother *Ralph Stuart Payton (‘the Baby’), and Vincent Trought have joined him, together with Christopher Wiseman, in the First Class at King Edward’s School. There are now only fifteen pupils in the class. Ronald is no longer in a Mathematics section, apparently having completed his required course of study. Hilary Tolkien is now in Class VI, Section B5.

8 October 1909Now a member of the King Edward’s School Debating Society (*Societies and clubs), Ronald makes his maiden speech on the motion: ‘That this house expresses its sympathy with the objects and its admiration of the tactics of the Militant Suffragette.’ The King Edward’s School Chronicle will report that he ‘spoke of the Suffragette from a Zoological point of view and gave an interesting display of his paronomasiac powers [ability to play on words]. A good humourous speech.’ Christopher Wiseman, also entering into the debate, points out ‘that man had been educated from the middle of the 18th century, but it was not till 1884 that the vote was extended. Woman had had no education till the middle of the 19th century; ergo, they had still fifty years to wait!’ (‘Debating Society’, n.s. 24, no. 177 (November 1909), pp. 84, 83). The motion fails, 12 votes to 20.

22 October 1909At a meeting of the King Edward’s School Debating Society R.W. Reynolds introduces the motion: ‘That this House disapproves of the Government proposals for the taxation of land’. The motion passes, 24 votes to 18.

26 October 1909Ronald plays in the King Edward’s School Rugby 1st XV for the first time, in a home match against Jesus College, Oxford. King Edward’s School loses, 9 to 19. According to the King Edward’s School Chronicle , the home team ‘continued to keep their opponents well in hand, and were at length rewarded by a try by Tolkien, who had shown himself throughout the afternoon a keen forward, and fully deserved this success. The kick did not succeed…. At the close of the game J.R.R. Tolkien and H.N. Thompson received their 2nd Team Colours’ (‘Football’, n.s. 24, no. 177 (November 1909), p. 88). (A photograph of the 1909–10 1st XV appears in Biography , pl. 5a, and in The Tolkien Family Album , p. 26.)

29 October 1909J.N.E. Tredennick, a student at King Edward’s School, reads a paper on the American author Oliver Wendell Holmes at a meeting of the School Literary Society (*Societies and clubs).

30 October 1909Ronald plays in a 1st XV home match against the 2nd XV of Old Edwardians II. King Edward’s School loses, 8 to 10.

5 November 1909At a meeting of the King Edward’s School Debating Society ‘a small House’ discusses the motion ‘That the heroes of antiquity have been much overrated’. The debate is opened by W.H. Payton, who lays ‘emphasis on the change between the conditions of several thousand years ago and those of to-day’. Rob Gilson speaks in protest, ‘arguing that the heroes of antiquity had an enormous influence for good on the morals and ideals of today’. Vincent Trought gives his maiden address to the Society, confessing that ‘he could never perform the labours of Hercules’ without ‘the beginning and end of modern heroes’ superiority’: beer (‘Debating Society’, King Edward’s School Chronicle , n.s. 24, no. 178 (December 1909), pp. 95, 96). The motion fails, 8 votes to 16.

6 November 1909Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match at Oakham, Leicestershire, against Oakham School. King Edward’s School loses, 13 to 14.

9 November 1909Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match at The Reddings, Moseley, against Moseley II. King Edward’s School loses, 0 to 17.

13 November 1909Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match at Lifford, against Kings Norton. King Edward’s School loses, 0 to 30.

19 November 1909The King Edward’s School Debating Society addresses the motion: ‘That this house deplores the disappearance of the stocks as a form of punishment.’ According to the King Edward’s School Chronicle , ‘J.R.R. Tolkien in a distinctly humorous speech, though somewhat marred by a faulty delivery, advocated the revival of the stocks as an admirable method for the training of the marksmen of this country. It would also benefit the grocers’ trade’ (‘Debating Society’, n.s. 24, no. 178 (December 1909), p. 96). The motion carries, 13 to 12.

26 November 1909At a meeting of the Literary Society of King Edward’s School the Reverend E.W. Badger, one of the Masters, reads a paper entitled William Morris, Artist, Craftsman and Poet .

Near the end of autumn term 1909Ronald and Edith ride their bicycles to the Lickey Hills on an afternoon excursion. They leave and return separately so that no one will know they are seeing each other. At the end of the afternoon they have tea at the house in Rednal where Ronald had stayed in the summer, but the woman who provides the tea mentions Ronald’s visit to the caretaker at the Oratory retreat, who mentions it to the cook at the Oratory, and so the news reaches Father Francis Morgan. Father Francis is worried that Ronald is not giving his full attention to work towards a university scholarship, and is shaken when further enquiries reveal more about Ronald and Edith’s clandestine meetings. He demands that their relationship cease.

December 1909Very soon after this turmoil Ronald goes to Oxford to sit the University scholarship examination, staying in Corpus Christi College. He fails to obtain an award but is young enough to be able to try again next year. He must win an award if he wants to attend the University of Oxford, since his small inheritance from his father’s estate is not enough to pay the fees, nor can Father Francis afford to pay them.

3 December 1909The King Edward’s School Debating Society addresses the motion: ‘That the sportsman is a better citizen than the student.’ Rob Gilson recommends the novel Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes as an exception to the opening statement that the heroes of all school tales were those good at games. R.S. Payton makes his maiden address to the Society, stating that ‘the man with no education but sport was often bigoted and narrow-minded’, and Christopher Wiseman makes ‘reference to the battle of Eton ’ and digresses ‘on to the [national] Budget’ (‘Debating Society’, King Edward’s School Chronicle , n.s. 25, no. 179 (March 1910), pp. 5, 6). The motion fails, 12 votes to 15.