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

in the affirmative. The motion fails, 5 votes to 12.

      December 1910 As Debating Society Secretary, Ronald almost certainly writes the report of the meeting of the Society on 4 November published in the King Edward’s School Chronicle for December 1910. As Football Secretary, he possibly also writes the report of matches published in the same number. – The King Edward’s School Musical and Dramatic Society presents the Annual Open Concert. During the evening Rob Gilson recites the abdication speech from Shakespeare’s Richard II, and two scenes from Sheridan’s The Rivals are performed.

      2 December 1910 At a meeting of the King Edward’s School Debating Society Ronald proposes the motion: ‘We are Degenerating.’ According to a report (presumably by Ronald himself) in the King Edward’s School Chronicle, he ‘based all his argument upon intellectual degradation, and inveighed against the artificiality and unwholesomeness of Our outlook. After appearing to proclaim himself a hedonist, he produced what proved to be the most unfortunately conspicuous part of the debate. This was his “Theory of Bumps.” Men progressed in bumps, bumping low, but never bumping as low as they had bumped before’ (‘Debating Society’, n.s. 26, no. 185 (February 1911), p. 5). This theory is taken up by succeeding speakers, and at the end of the debate ‘the Hon. Opener thereupon adjusted his theory of bumps to one of contusions. He remained defiant in a lost cause. He knew the House had a delightful custom of invariably voting Negative. It did.’ Among others, his friend *Thomas Kenneth (‘Tea-Cake’) Barnsley speaks in the affirmative, and Sidney Barrowclough and Vincent Trought argue in the negative. The motion fails, 10 votes to 16.

      Mid-December 1910 Ronald travels to Oxford on his second attempt to win a scholarship.

      16 December 1910 At a meeting of the King Edward’s School Debating Society the Old Boys discuss the question of whether ‘the evils of the press have up to now exceeded its benefits.’ The motion fails, 3 votes to 16.

      17 December 1910 Ronald learns that he has been awarded an Open Classical Exhibition at Exeter College, worth £60 a year. He immediately informs Edith, who telegraphs her congratulations on the same day. He ought to have won a more valuable scholarship, but as he later wrote: ‘I was clever, but not industrious or single-minded; a large part of my failure was due simply to not working (at least not at classics) not because I was in love, but because I was studying something else: Gothic and what not’ (letter to Michael Tolkien, 6–8 March 1941, Letters, p. 52). But this exhibition, together with a bursary from King Edward’s School and some extra finance from Father Francis, makes it possible for him to attend Oxford. He can now enjoy his last two terms at King Edward’s School with pressure removed and his future secure.

      Christmas 1910 Ronald receives an unsigned Christmas card from Edith.

1911

      Spring and summer terms 1911 During this period Ronald is one of seventeen pupils in the First Class.

      20 January 1911 At a meeting of the King Edward’s School Literary Society the Head Master, Robert Cary Gilson, speaks about ‘out of doors literature’: mountaineering, al fresco in poetry, walking tours, and so forth.

      27 January 1911 The King Edward’s School Debating Society addresses the motion: ‘This House considers that holidays are in no way beneficial, and demands their abolition.’ Rob Gilson opens in the affirmative, arguing that holidays are used for ‘sleep, food, [and] flimsy novels’. T.K. Barnsley likens the desire to work our brains without rest to ‘attempting to set the Koh-i-Noor [diamond] in a jelly’. Sidney Barrowclough objects to Barnsley’s ‘foody topics and his foody initials’ (i.e. ‘T.K.’, ‘tea cake’), Vincent Trought views the motion from three standpoints, R.S. Payton argues that ‘term time [is] for play and holidays for work’, and Christopher Wiseman discusses ‘the subject of morning rising’ (‘Debating Society’, King Edward’s School Chronicle, n.s. 26, no. 185 (February 1911), pp. 8, 9). Ronald himself takes Barnsley’s remark as a personal insult, since he is in the habit of wearing a yellow pencil in his mouth (i.e. a pencil with a yellow barrel, a feature of the Koh-i-Noor brand). The motion fails, 6 votes to 13.

      February 1911 As Debating Society Secretary, Ronald almost certainly writes the report of the meetings of the Society on 18 November, 2 and 16 December, and 27 January published in the King Edward’s School Chronicle for February 1911. As Football Secretary, he possibly also writes the report of matches published in the same number.

      4 February 1911 Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match against the University of Birmingham, at the University Ground. King Edward’s School loses, 0 to 14.

      10 February 1911 The King Edward’s School Debating Society addresses the motion: ‘That Slavery is a desirable social condition and that this House deplores its disappearance.’ (No reports of this or subsequent Debating Society meetings in February–March 1911 appear in the King Edward’s School Chronicle.)

      14 February 1911 Ronald plays in a 1st XV away match against Birkenhead School. King Edward’s School loses, 6 to 14.

      17 February 1911 At a meeting of the King Edward’s School Literary Society Ronald reads a paper on the Norse sagas. According to the King Edward’s School Chronicle, he considers the Völsunga Saga one of the best of them, and though it is inferior to Homer in most respects, in some it excels: ‘There is no scene in Homer like the final tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild’ (‘Literary Society’, n.s. 26, no. 186 (March 1911), p. 19). The paper concludes with a sketch of the Norse religion and quotations from various sagas.

      24 February 1911 The King Edward’s School Debating Society addresses the motion: ‘This House would welcome the establishment of a Central Imperial Parliament.’

      March 1911 Ronald writes a poem, *The Battle of the Eastern Field, a humorous account of a football match. It will be published in the King Edward’s School Chronicle for this month. As Football Secretary, he possibly also writes the report of matches published in the same number of the Chronicle.

      8–9 March 1911 Through an estate agent, Jane Neave bids for property in Gedling. She is the high bidder for Church Farm (later called Phoenix Farm), but must give the current tenant, farmer Arthur Lamb, one year to leave.

      10 March 1911 Ronald takes part in a Latin debate, in the role of ‘T. Portorius Acer Germanicus’. He will write a report in Latin entitled Acta Senatus, to be published in the King Edward’s School Chronicle for March 1911. The editorial for this number will note that pupils ‘are reminded by the ever active Secretary of the Debating Society’, i.e. Ronald Tolkien, about the forthcoming Open Debate (p. 17).

      13 March 1911 W.H. Payton reads a paper on Charles Lamb at a meeting of the King Edward’s School Literary Society.

      15 March 1911 The King Edward’s School Officers Training Corps participates in a field exercise with cadets from other neighbouring schools and the University of Birmingham. The King Edward’s School cadets go by train to Northfield, south of Birmingham proper, and thence to Ley Hill, where they take part in an attack on another group’s position on Griffin’s Hill. The weather is bitterly cold, indeed the exercise is halted for half an hour by a storm of sleet. Later the cadets march to the University refectory, accompanied by a band, and have tea. The King Edward’s School contingent is so cheered that it insists on marching back to the School instead of taking the train.

      17 March 1911 R.W. Reynolds reads a paper, ‘Powder and Jam’, on once-popular literature meant to instruct and amuse, to a meeting of the King Edward’s School Literary Society.

      18 March 1911 Ronald takes part in a 1st XV away match at Bromsgrove, against Bromsgrove School. King Edward’s School loses, 3 to 8. This is Ronald’s last game for the school. In the King