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

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СКАЧАТЬ Cannot think of anything else’ (quoted in Biography, p. 43). See note.

      18 February 1909 King Edward’s School student R.B. Naish reads a paper on Robert Browning at a meeting of the Literary Society.

      19 February 1910 Ronald plays in 1st XV home match against the University of Birmingham. King Edward’s School loses, 5 to 6.

      21 February 1910 Ronald writes in his diary: ‘I saw a dejected little figure sloshing along in a mac and tweed hat and could not resist crossing and saying a word of love and cheerfulness. This cheered me up a little for a while. Prayed and thought hard’ (quoted in Biography, p. 43).

      23 February 1910 Ronald and Edith meet again accidentally.

      25 February 1910 The Annual Parliamentary debate is held at King Edward’s School on the motion: ‘That the State recognises the right of its citizens to work, and undertakes the responsibility of providing it, if necessary.’ W.H. Payton takes part, arguing that ‘the scheme would prove not only inefficient, but demoralising to the character of the community’ and advocating tariff reform as ‘the only true remedy for the evil’ (King Edward’s School Chronicle, n.s. 25, no. 179 (March 1910), p. 9). The motion fails, 8 votes to 12.

      26 February 1910 Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match at Elmdon Road, against Bromsgrove School. King Edward’s School loses, 8 to 21. – At least one of Ronald’s unplanned meetings with Edith has been reported to Father Francis. Ronald writes in his diary that he has ‘had a dreadful letter’ from his guardian ‘saying I had been seen with a girl again, calling it evil and foolish. Threatening to cut short my University career if I did not stop. Means I cannot see E[dith]. Nor write at all. God help me. Saw E. at midday but would not be with her. I owe all to Fr. F[rancis] and so must obey’ (quoted in Biography, p. 43).

      2 March 1910 Edith leaves Birmingham for Cheltenham, Ronald has a last glimpse of her as she rides her bicycle to the station. Although Edith will miss Ronald, she will now live in greater comfort, and she will be able to play the piano as much as she likes, a pleasure forbidden her by Mrs Faulkner.

      4 March 1910 W.H. Payton reads a paper on The Ingoldsby Legends at a meeting of the King Edward’s School Literary Society.

      11 March 1910 In another Latin debate at King Edward’s School Ronald plays the part of a Greek ambassador, ‘Eisphorides Acribus Polyglotteus’, and speaks entirely in Greek. On another such occasion, according to Humphrey Carpenter, Ronald ‘astonished his schoolfellows when, in the character of a barbarian envoy, he broke into fluent Gothic; and on a third occasion he spoke in Anglo-Saxon. These activities occupied many hours …’ (Biography, p. 48).

      12 March 1910 Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match at Elmdon Road, against the Old Edwardians II. King Edward’s School wins, 30 to 6.

      18 March 1910 Former student E. Muncaster reads a paper on ‘Witchcraft’ at a meeting of the King Edward’s School Literary Society.

      26 March 1910 (Easter Saturday) With the permission of Father Francis, Ronald writes a long letter to Edith. This ends with a poem, probably Morning, which he will later date to March 1910 – his earliest dated surviving verse. He encloses two devotional pamphlets, The Stations of the Cross and The Seven Words of the Cross. – At about this time Ronald begins to write original poems in English, in addition to translating poems into Latin as part of the classical curriculum at school. Much of his early poetry celebrates his appreciation of nature and landscape.

      5 April 1910 Ronald plays in a 1st XV home match against the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. King Edward’s School wins, 19 to 0. – The School’s annual Open Debate addresses the motion: ‘That the party system has proved itself to be no longer compatible with the sound government of this country.’ W.H. Payton is among those who speak in the affirmative. The motion fails, 20 votes to 30.

      6 April 1910 The King Edward’s School Musical and Dramatic Society presents the Annual Open Concert at 7.30 p.m. in the Governors’ Board Room. During the programme Ronald’s friend Rob Gilson recites John of Gaunt’s dying speech from Shakespeare’s Richard II.

      From 11 April 1910 Ronald sees a performance of J.M. *Barrie’s Peter Pan at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Birmingham. He writes in his diary: ‘Indescribable but I shall never forget it as long as I live. Wish E[dith] had been with me’ (quoted in Biography, pp. 47–8). The play is presented for six nights and two matinees beginning 11 April.

      May 1910 Ronald writes a poem, The Dale Lands.

      6 May 1910 King Edward VII dies. George V succeeds to the throne.

      June 1910 Ronald writes a poem, Evening.

      12 June 1910 Ronald inscribes his Greek edition of The Fifth Book of Thucydides with his name and a Gothic text which he later translated as: ‘I read the words of these books of Greek history in the sixth month of this year; thousand, nine hundreds, ten, of Our Lord: in order to gain the prize given every year to the boy knowing most about Thucydides, and this I inscribed in my books on the twelfth of the sixth (month) after I had already first read through all the words carefully’ (letter to Zillah Sherring, 20 July 1965, Letters, p. 357).

      30 June and 2 July 1910 Ronald attends the King Edward’s School Athletic Sports at the School Grounds. He comes third in the One Mile Flat Race, Open.

      July 1910 Ronald takes the examinations for the Oxford and Cambridge Higher Certificate, passing in five subjects: Latin, Greek, Elementary Mathematics, Scripture Knowledge (Greek Text), and History, and also satisfies the examiners in English Essay. – He writes a poem, Wood-sunshine, noteworthy among his earliest verse for its references to ‘fairy things tripping so gay’ and ‘sprites of the wood’, a foreshadowing of later writings (Biography, p. 47). He will later date another poem, The Sirens, also to this month.

      27 July 1910 Speech Day and Prize-giving at King Edward’s School, followed by various performances. Ronald is awarded the prize for German, and plays the part of the Inspector in a performance in Greek of The Birds by Aristophanes, for which the King Edward’s School Chronicle will single him out for special praise. Rob Gilson and Christopher Wiseman appear in scenes from Shakespeare’s Henry V. – Hilary Tolkien attends his final day at King Edward’s School. At some time before April 1911 he will be given a post in Walter Incledon’s family business, as a hardware merchant’s clerk.

      28 July–6 August 1910 Ronald attends camp with the King Edward’s School Officers Training Corps. Sixty-four cadets parade at the School on the morning of 28 July under the command of Captain R.H. Hume before travelling by special train from Snow Hill Station, Birmingham, to *Aldershot in Hampshire. They and cadets from other schools pitch camp on Farnborough Common and spend two days drilling in preparation for an inspection by the Duke of Connaught on the Saturday afternoon. During their field training the cadets are taken in groups to visit the depot of military airplanes and airships in the neighbouring Farnborough. A battery of field artillery is demonstrated to them. During the second week, the cadets are inspected by Field Marshals Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener. ‘The weather was on the whole good, but on two evenings the rain fell in torrents and nearly washed out the Camp’ (R.H. Hume, ‘O.T.C. Annual Camp, Aldershot, 1910’, King Edward’s School Chronicle n.s. 26, no. 183 (November 1910), p. 74).

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