Tolkien and Leeds

Tolkien's time in Leeds is coming to an end

Portrait of Tolkien from the 1930's

 

In 1925 there were many significant events in the life of the Tolkien family and since the start of the last academic year there had been developments in Tolkien's professional and creative life.

In November 1924 the Tolkien family welcomed the arrival of Christopher Reuel Tolkien, born at home at 2 Darnley Road. The new addition to the family would have been a joy to John Ronald and Edith as their life in Leeds was continuing to improve.

Tolkien had been appointed Professor of English at the University of Leeds and their life in West Park (then on the outskirts of north Leeds) was suiting the family on both the domestic and academic fronts.

Tolkien and E.V. Gordon were well into thier collaboration on a new version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Tolkien's glossary was being reviewed and the completed work was published in April 1925.

At the end of April the Tolkien family had a holiday on the east coast near the seaside town of Filey, where Micheal (Tolkien's second son) lost a treasured toy, a model of a little dog called Rover.

In June 1925 W.A. Craigie left the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford and by the end of June Tolkien had submitted his formal application. This was well received in the city of dreaming spires and by the end of July his successful election was announced in The Times. This announcement and the change of Tolkien's academic position was delayed by six months, the notice period required by the University of Leeds.

Toward the end of 1969, in a letter to Christopher, Tolkien referred to his time teaching in Leeds,

As to your last paragraph! I am wholly in favour of the 'dull stodges'. I had once a considerable experience of what are/were probably England's most (at least apparently) dullest and stodgiest students: Yorkshire's young men and women of sub-public school class and home backgrounds bookless and cultureless. That does not, however, necessarily indicate the actual innate mental capacity – largely unawakened – of any given individual. A surprisingly large proportion prove 'educable': for which a primary qualification is the willingness to do some work (to learn) (at any
level of intelligence).

The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien, H. Carpenter (Ed.), (London: HarperCollins, 1981) 403 

 

Tolkien and his family moved to Oxford in early January 1926 and Tolkien's last connection with Leeds was in April of the same year. 

This is the end of the Tolkiens' time in Leeds 

  

 

Tolkien in Leeds 1924

A belated entry this year, but a fond and treaured memory from this correspondent.

It is 2024 and here we are celebrating this enduring memorial to Tolkien's time in Leeds.

https://leedsbookclub.com/2012/10/02/j-r-r-tolkien-blue-plaque-in-leeds/#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%20J.R.R.%20Tolkien%20lived%20in%20Leeds%20for

This is what it means to treasure the hoard of memory that Tolkien drew from..

'The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him.

..   the fact remained that the Tooks were not as respectable as the Bagginses, though they were undoubtedly richer. Not that Belladonna Took ever had any adventures after she became Mrs. Bungo Baggins. Bungo, that was Bilbo’s father, built the most luxurious hobbit-hole for her (and partly with her money) that was to be found either under The Hill or over The Hill or across The Water.' 

 

 

Eve of an Anniversary

Mae Govannen

A big thank you to you for visiting at this time.

Next year will be the start of many commentaries and accounts of Tolkien and his life in Oxford.

It is important though to note the place that Leeds and the North had in his published literary and academic progress.

In June of 1923 A Northern Venture was published by the Leeds University English School Association.

In October 1923 the poem The Cat and the Fiddle was published  in Yorkshire Poetry.

By December in 1923 a 'clean copy' of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' had been sent for review

Ten Years Old

 

 

 

On a sunny day in 2012 the Leeds Civic Trust in partnership with The Tolkien Society and the University of Leeds unveiled the plaque at 2 Darnley Road, West Park, Leeds.

 

Here is a postcard of this suburb of north Leeds from 1905.  It presents the property at the  end of Spen Lane in its semi-rural aspect.

 (Darnley Road circled)

Tolkien and Leeds 1921

 After a year in post Tolkien was establishing 

his position as an advocate of the study of Middle English

Having been given a free-hand in the revision of the English syllabus by George S. Gordon, Tolkien began to develop English studies at Leeds. He proposed the series of Middle English texts for study and was in favour of the normalization of texts. This would involve making the translation of the texts consistent in thier spelling. 

Kenneth Sisam had suggested in January of 1921 that a student edition of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' was long overdue. C. T. Onions suggested to Tolkien that he should prepare such an edition. 

In October 1921 George S. Gordon asked the opinion of David Nichol Smith of a student, one Eric Valentine Gordon (no relation) who had been recommended by Tolkien for a staff position at Leeds.

With his family now in Leeds and after taking rooms at Holly Bank on the Otley Road in Headingley the Tolkien's had moved to 11 St Mark's Terrace, close to the University where they would stay till March 1924.

 

 

Tolkien and Leeds 1920

One hundred years ago John Ronald Reuel Tolkien 

was appointed

 Reader in English Language at the University of Leeds 

and arrived in the city take up the post

Tolkien would be joined by his growing family after his wife Edith gave birth (in Oxford) to their second son Michael. Initially Tolkien rented a room at 21a St Michael's Road, Headingley and returned to Oxford at the weekends.

 

As the Tolkien's approached Christmas 1920 they were starting down a road that would see the family move to Leeds and become part of the community of which the University was the centre.

To maintain the connection with his young family, Tolkien began a tradition that would last till the eary 1940s,  festive letters to his children. The first was written to his eldest son John, in Oxford (from Father Christmas, North Pole) in December 1920.

Christopher Tolkien (1924 - 2020)

 

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 15 January 2020) was the third son of the author J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), and the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. He drew the original maps for his father's The Lord of the Rings, which he signed C. J. R. T.

 

Christopher was born in Leeds in the same year that his father had been made Professor of the English Language at Leeds University at the age of thirty-two. His parents had purchased 2 Darnley Road and had moved with their children, John (6) and Michael (4) from St Marks Terrace.
He was baptised Christopher Reuel, the first name being in honor of Christopher Wiseman.

The Tolkien Society  is an educational charity, literary society, and international fan club, devoted to promoting the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien.



Tolkien and Wright

Tolkien's first academic post as Reader in the English Department at the University of Leeds came after his work as a lexicographer on the Oxford English Dictionary. In late 1918 parts of the latest edition were still being compiled at Oxford. Tolkien worked on the etymology of warm, wasp, water, wick (lamp) and winter.

 

For any philologist the compilation of glossaries was an essental part of the study of texts. Tolkien's application for the post in Leeds would see him join an academic institution familiar to one particular tutor during his undergraduate studies. This tutor was Joseph Wright.

Wright was born in Idle near Bradford in 1855 and from humble beginnings took an active interest in education as both teacher and pupil. Largely self-taught, Wright would eventually study Comparative Philology in Germany and on returning to England was engaged by the Taylor Institute in Oxford. Wright remained part of the University to his retirement in 1925.

 In 1925 Wright wrote a letter of recommendation for Tolkien's application at Rawlinson and Bosworth chair of Anglo-Saxon:

"I have known Professor Tolkien intimately since the beginning of his undergraduate days at Oxford, and have greatly admired his keen interest in the philological study of Latin, Greek, and more especially the Germanic Languages. He regularly attended my classes and lectures for two years on Comparative Philology in general, and on Latin, Greek, and Gothic, and I formed a high opinion of his attainments in these subjects..."

Tolkien Gateway: Joseph Wright
Joseph Wright


Joseph Wright, Taylor Institue, Oxford

Wright had attended evening classes at the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds at the start of his academic career when he was a schoolmaster in Bradford. The Yorkshire College of Science was founded in 1874 and was one of the institutions that became part of the University of Leeds.

 

The relationship between the undergraduate Tolkien and Prof. Wright was brought to the screen this year in Dome Karukoski's  Tolkien

 

Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) and Wright (Derek Jacobi)

 

Wright died in 1930 and his wife Elizabeth and Tolkien were named executors in his will. When Elizabeth died in 1958 the final settlement of Wright's will could be completed. This was that his 'residuary estate', '.. shall pass to the University of Leeds ..'.

In 1963 the Joseph Wright Scholarship was established. The fund provides for students wishing to undertake research degree study in English or German languages or literatures within the School of English or the Department of German.

University of Leeds

The Tolkien Society  is an educational charity, literary society, and international fan club, devoted to promoting the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien.





Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth

There only four short weeks till the exhibition Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth currently running at the Bodleian Library, Oxford closes (closing date 28th October). With free entry (pre-book a time slot) this opportunity to view items from the Tolkien Trust, Marquette University and the Bodleian Library's Tolkien Archive is well worth the visit.

A chance to view this rarely displayed collection was thrill, made even more so in that Tolkien's Father Christmas Letters and the development of the story Roverandom, featured amongst the illustrations, drafts, sketch-books and other artefacts.

Tolkien started writing these communications in 1920, starting with a note from ' .. Fr. Chr. ' to  his son John (aged 3). Tolkien was commuting between Oxford and Leeds having been elected to the post of Reader at the University of Leeds.

This tradition continued and Christmas 1924 'Master John Francis Reuel Tolkien' duly received his letter, to the family's new address in West Park, Leeds.

With Tolkien's academic career seeing him return to Oxford and the greater works of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion establishing his talent as an artist and story-teller it was heartening to see this Leeds connection as part of that story.

The Tolkien Society will be hosting a four day conference in Birmingham in 2019. Tolkien 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Society and bring together fans, scholars and artists from far and wide. Be There!

Tolkien and Yorkshire

100 years ago the First World War was still raging with casualties and deaths now into the millions.

For Tolkien trench fever had seen to his transportation back to England and by the 8th of November 1916 he was back in Birmingham. By December he was well enough to leave hospital and initially convalesced at Great Haywood.

Towards the end of this period of recovery he was taken ill again and was sent to a sanatorium in Harrogate.

Tolkien would continue to recuperate
and re-train in East Yorkshire These events are now marked with the plaques in Hornsea and Hull.  

 2017 is also the centenary year of John Ronald and Edith Tolkien's  walk near Roos in East Yorkshire and the 'hemlock glade' that became woven into the evolving fabric of his legendarium as the story of Beren and Luthien.
 
Tolkien Society Seminar 2017

The Tolkien Society's Seminar  has been held Leeds since 2015 and building on previous years it was a great success. This year's subject 'Poetry and Song' was addressed in papers by both established and upcoming Tolkien scholars. This year's seminar saw regular speakers Dr Dimitra Fimi and Dr Andrew Higgins joined by Dr Stuart Lee of the University of Oxford

Plans are on-going for the 2018 Seminar which again will be held in Leeds.

The scheduling of the Seminar in early July coincides with  the International Medieval Congress which is held annually at the University of Leeds.

Tolkien Society

Tolkien and Gordon, the Leeds connection

By the time Tolkien took the position of Reader at the University of Leeds he had already made many contributions to the academic life of the University of Oxford.

He had returned to Oxford with his wife Edith and infant son, John, in 1918 and worked as a  lexicographer engaged in the compilation of the New English Dictionary. He also provided private tutoring to undergraduates and was in the process of compiling a Middle English Glossary for his former tutor Kenneth Sisam.


After moving to Leeds, as the plaque at 2 Darnley Road now testifies,

      '.. he collaborated on a new edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ..'.

This collaboration with E.V. Gordon would see Tolkien the tutor, working with one of his former students. Gordon studied at University College, Oxford and an entry in a college account book from 1920 of payments to tutors confirms his tutelage by Tolkien. 

Gordon went on to succeed Tolkien as Professor at Leeds and the friendship and collaboration that developed during their time there would have no doubt continued had it not been for Gordon's death in 1938.

The Brotherton Library at Leeds holds a collection of Tolkien and Gordon's letters purchased in 2014.

Tolkien Society Seminar 2016

The Tolkien Society's Seminar returned to Leeds for a second year and was a great success. This year's subject 'Life, Death and Immortality' proved most popular with those who attended. Many papers were submitted and created a full schedule for the event. Among this year's speakers were  Dr Dimitra Fimi and Dr Andrew Higgins editors of the recently republished essay by Tolkien, 'A Secret Vice'.

Plans are on-going for the 2017 Seminar which again will be held in Leeds.

The scheduling of the Seminar in early July coincides with  the International Medieval Congress which is held annually at the University of Leeds.

Tolkien links with Leeds in 2015

The Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds made the purchase of letters, poems and prose that will form the Gordon-Tolkien Collection held by the Brotherton Library.

            'They provide insight into the close friendship between Tolkien and Eric Gordon,
              who joined him in the English department at Leeds in 1922.'

Sing-along-a-Tolkien

Among the papers is a draft of a drinking song 'The Root of the Boot' (Sam's 'Troll Poem' from The Fellowship of the Ring). This was performed at the Whitelock's Ale House, Turk's Head Yard in Leeds back in March.

Tolkien Society Seminar 2015

The Tolkien Society's Seminar was held in Leeds this year; this annual event hosted by the TS consisted of a range of papers under the theme 'One Hundred Years of Middle-earth'.

Plans are ongoing for the 2016 Seminar which again will be held in Leeds.

The scheduling of the Seminar in early July coincides with  the International Medieval Congress
 held annually at the University of Leeds.

Tolkien, Professor of English Language

J.R.R Tolkien, University of Leeds

On the 1st Ocober 1924 J.R.R. Tolkien started the new academic year at the University of Leeds as Professor of English Language.

 





After his appointment as Reader in English Language in 1920, he had been given the responsibility for the linguistic teaching of the language side of the syllabus in the English Department.

When George Gordon left Leeds Tolkien was a candidate for the Leeds chair. In the event it went to Lascelles Abercrombie, however the Vice-Chancellor at Leeds promised Tolkien that a new Professorship of English Language would be created.

2015 Tolkien Society Seminar, 4th July
           The Hilton, Neville Street, Leeds

The Tolkien Society

Happy Anniversary!





Well a year has passed since the Tolkien Society with the Leeds Civic Trust unveiled the plaque at 2 Darnley Road. It stirred quite an interest in Tolkien and Leeds.


                                                   

             There was a bulletin from the University of Leeds 

                who also supported of the plaque. It includes a

                the portrait of Tolkien from the 1920s when he

                was a member of the English Faculty.

It was followed by a piece during the run-up to the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey referring to materials held at the Brotherton Library.

For today’s residents of West Park the Leodis Photographic Archive contains some period images of Darnley Road. These provide an insight to the opportunities that Tolkien saw for himself and his family at this time in their life. They had been living in St Marks Terrace (off Woodhouse Lane) for the best part of three years, though life so close to the city came with its own problems,  ‘chemicals in the air rotted the curtains within six months, and baby Michael was covered in smuts if he was left outside in his pram for any length of time; and Ronald found that he had to change his collar three times a day!’

The move to what were the ‘leafy suburbs’ of north Leeds must have been quite a prospect.

It still is, and today 2 Darnley Road stands as a lasting memorial to the development of Leeds and those who have come to live and work in this great city.

Ian Spittlehouse

OWP
The Tolkien Society

The plaque is here!

It has been a long journey to get here, but this morning the plaque was unveiled to an audience invited by the Tolkien Society, Leeds Civic Trust and the West Park Residents Association.

The plaque at 2 Darnley Road, West Park was unveiled by Dr Kersten Hall a visiting Fellow at the University of Leeds.

 It was an honour to attend such an event and my thanks go out to everyone who helped make it happen.

Leeds Book Club
The Leeds Civic Trust
University of Leeds

Headingley Lit Fest
                             with Ian left holding the bag heh heh ;-)
Middle-earth News
The One Ring . Net
Geek Syndicate
The Examiner
For other reports search: plaque tolkien

BBC Radio Leeds

Listen in to the Breakfast program tomorrow with Larry Budd and a piece about the plaque (between 8:30 and 9:00)

Article in the Yorkshire Evening Post

A link to the online version of Leeds: Did Meanwood Valley inspire Middle Earth?

The Final Countdown

The Tolkien Society is pleased to announce that the Leeds Civic Trust will be siting a blue plaque at 2 Darnley Road, West Park, Leeds. Dr Kersten Hall, graduate of St Anne’s College, Oxford and Visiting Fellow to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Leeds will unveil the plaque on the 1st of October 2012. Ian Spittlehouse, Trustee and the Tolkien Society’s liaison with the representatives of West Park and the Leeds Civic Trust said, ‘This is a timely recognition of Tolkien’s tenure in Leeds, and a welcome addition to Yorkshire’s influence on his academic and literary career.’ J.R.R. Tolkien, graduate of Exeter College, Oxford, was Reader in English language at the University of Leeds, his family moved to Leeds residing briefly at 5 Holly Bank, Headingley and then leasing a house in St Mark’s Terrace. In 1924 Tolkien bought the semi-detached property in Darnley Road. He went on to be made Professor of the English Language at the university. The family lived there for over a year before Tolkien’s election to the Rawlinson and Bosworth chair of Anglo-Saxon saw them return to Oxford in 1926. During his time at the University of Leeds Tolkien was instrumental in shaping the English Language syllabus at the university; some aspects of this were still present sixty years later. He also worked with E.V. Gordon to produce an edition of the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which was published in 1925. Tolkien’s time in Leeds prefaced his long academic career at Oxford and the publication of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. During his time in Leeds he was developing the story-teller’s art. He began writing The Father Christmas Letters, for his son, John, in 1920. In 1925 he composed a story for his second son, Michael, to explain the loss of a toy dog on the beach at Filey. This was eventually edited and published in 1998 as Roverandum. The plaque will be unveiled at 11:30am on the 1st October 2012 at 2 Darnley Road, West Park, Leeds.

Summer Update 2012

The plaque went into manufacture at the end of May and has been scheduled to be unveiled on the 1st October.

Plaque text agreed

The Tolkien Society trustees and the Leeds Civic Trust have agreed on a text for the Darnley Road plaque