John and Edith

The account of J.R.R. Tolkien's love, Edith

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien knew grief at an early age: his father passed away from rheumatic fever when J.R.R. was four years old; his mother died eight years later of diabetes complications, leaving John and his younger brother, Hilary, orphaned.

At age 16, John moved (alongside Hilary) to a boarding house located at 37 Duchess Road, Birmingham under wa…