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

Problems of Old English Philology on Tuesdays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 21 January; Beowulf on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 21 January; Baldrs Draumar, Atlakviða, Bandamanna Saga, Hænsaþóris Saga, and Hávarðs Saga Halta on Thursdays at 10.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 23 January; and Old Norse Texts (Class), at an hour and place to be arranged.

      14 January 1930 Tolkien and his family move into 20 Northmoor Road, which he has bought from Basil Blackwell, from their smaller house next door. Much of their furniture is moved over the fence dividing the properties.

      22 January 1930 Tolkien attends a Pembroke College meeting.

      28 or 29 January 1930 Tolkien attends a meeting of the Kolbítar. Among those present are C.S. Lewis, John Bryson, and *R.M. Dawkins.

      31 January 1930 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.

      7 February 1930 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board meeting. The Board approves a regulation that before being accepted as a full B.Litt. student, a probationer must pass a written examination in set subjects unless exempted by the Board. Draft regulations for Pass Moderations are presented, and changes made.

      24 February 1930 Tolkien attends a dinner at All Souls College, Oxford, in honour of the Archbishop of Birmingham, who the previous day held an Ordination at the Dominican Priory. The dinner is given by Regius Professor of Civil Law Francis de Zulueta, and is attended by the Superiors of the Congregations in Oxford, Senior Fellow of Balliol College Francis Urquhart, and one or two others.

      27 February 1930 Joseph Wright dies. Tolkien is named executor of his estate.

      28 February 1930 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.

      3 March 1930 A memorial service for Joseph Wright is held in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin.

      8 March 1930 Hilary Full Term ends.

      11 March 1930 Tolkien attends a Pembroke College meeting.

      14 March 1930 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board meeting. The Board records its sense of loss on the death of Joseph Wright. Tolkien is appointed to the committee on the annual scheme of lectures. He presents proposals for alteration of the regulations governing examinations in the English Honour School, with regard to papers on the medieval period. Some of his proposals are adopted, and he is appointed to a committee to consider the remaining proposals. Tolkien and David Nichol Smith are asked to draft, for submission to the General Board, a statement of the Faculty Board’s reasons for appointing *C.L. Wrenn as University Lecturer in English Philology and *Dorothy Everett as University Lecturer in Middle English. – Tolkien also attends a General Board meeting. The Board accepts a benefaction from Charles James O’Donnell to promote the study of the British or Celtic element in the English language (see *English and Welsh).

      April 1930 Tolkien records two short segments, ‘At the Tobacconist’s’ and ‘Wireless’, for a Linguaphone English course. See note.

      25 April 1930 Tolkien is listed in the Oxford University Gazette as a Moderator in Literis Graecis et Latinis (Pass School) from the first day of Michaelmas Term 1930 to the first day of Michaelmas Term 1931.

      27 April 1930 Trinity Full Term begins. Tolkien’s scheduled lectures for this term are: Finn and Hengest: The Problem of the Episode in Beowulf and the Fragment (i.e. the ‘Finnesburg Fragment’; see *Finn and Hengest) on Tuesdays at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 29 April; the Germanic Numerals on Tuesdays at 12.00 noon in the Examination Schools, beginning 29 April; and Deor’s Lament, Waldere, and Runic Poem on Thursdays at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools, beginning 1 May.

      30 April 1930 Tolkien attends a Pembroke College meeting.

      9 May 1930 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting.

      16 May 1930 Tolkien attends an English Faculty Board meeting. The committee (including Tolkien) appointed at the last meeting submits proposed revised regulations for the Final Honour School, regarding examination papers to be taken. The Applications Committee has appointed Tolkien and C.L. Wrenn examiners for the B.Litt. thesis of Evan Clifford Llewellyn of Jesus College, The Influence of Middle Dutch and Middle Low German on English Speech.

      23 May 1930 Tolkien attends a General Board meeting. The Board appoints C.L. Wrenn as University Lecturer in English Philology for one year from 1 October 1930, and Dorothy Everett as University Lecturer in Middle English for five years. Wrenn is to deliver intercollegiate lectures and carry on advanced study or research, which will relieve Tolkien of some of his academic burden. He and his wife Agnes will become friends of Tolkien and Edith.

      29 May 1930 An article by Tolkien, The Oxford English School, is published in the Oxford Magazine for 29 May.

      c. 8 June 1930 (Whitsunday) Tolkien’s eldest son, John, is confirmed and takes the additional name Joseph.

      11 June 1930 Tolkien attends a Pembroke College meeting.

      12 June 1930 English Final Honour School Examinations begin.

      17 June 1930 Tolkien chairs an English Faculty Library Committee meeting at 2.15 p.m. in the Library. It is decided in future to have only one meeting per term on the Thursday of the fourth week of term.

      20 June 1930 At an English Faculty Board meeting, in Tolkien’s absence, C.T. Onions replaces him on the Committee for the Nomination of Public examiners in the Honour School of English Language and Literature. The Applications Committee has appointed Tolkien and Onions examiners of the B.Litt. thesis of L.E. Jones of Lady Margaret Hall, An Edition of British Museum MS Harley 2372.

      25 June 1930 Encaenia.

      21 June 1930 Trinity Full Term ends.

      16 July 1930 Tolkien and C.L. Wrenn examine E.C. Llewellyn of Jesus College viva voce on his B.Litt. thesis, The Influence of Middle Dutch and Middle Low German on English Speech, at 11.00 a.m. in the Examination Schools.

      18 July 1930 Tolkien and Wrenn sign their report (written out by Tolkien) on the examination of E.C. Llewellyn.

      29 July 1930 Tolkien attends an extraordinary meeting of the English Faculty Library Committee in the Board Room of the Clarendon Building to elect an Assistant Librarian. He also chairs a special meeting of the English Faculty Board at 12.15 p.m.

      2–9 August 1930 The Universal Congress of Esperanto is held in Oxford; Tolkien will later refer to it in A Secret Vice. In connection with this, a sermon is preached in Esperanto to the Catholic delegates in the Dominican church at Blackfriars by Father Gaffney, O.P. See note.

      Summer 1930 In later years Tolkien will distinctly recall having written the first words of The Hobbit (‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit’) while in the midst of marking School Certificate examination papers in his study at 20 Northmoor Road, thus not before summer 1930. But cases can also be made for an earlier origin; see article on *The Hobbit in Reader’s Guide. – During summer 1930 Tolkien and his sons dig up the tennis court at 20 Northmoor Road to make a vegetable garden.

      September–October 1930 Tolkien continues to write the Lay of Leithian. He writes a fifth plot outline, which takes up the story around line 3117. He notes the following dates on the manuscript: lines 3076–84 (Canto X), September 1930; line 3220 (Canto X), 25 September; line 3267 (Canto XI), 26 September; line 3478 (Canto XI), 27 September; line 3650 (Canto XII), 28 September; line 3790 (Canto XII), 30 September; line 3840 (Canto XIII), 1 October. Possibly at this time he continues as far as line 3860, where a typescript copy ends (before continuing