John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in South Africa, where his English father worked as a bank manager. His father died unexpectedly of complications from rheumatic fever when four-year-old Ronald (as he was called) was visiting family in England with his mother and younger brother Hilary. His mother did not return to South Africa, but moved with her young children to be near her own family in Birmingham and began to educate Ronald and Hilary at home. Mrs. Tolkien was alienated from her family when she and her sister converted to Roman Catholicism in 1900, and she was forced to move with the children to poorer lodgings. In the same year, Ronald entered King Edward's School in Birmingham, already demonstrating a gift for linguistics. Mrs. Tolkien died in 1904 of complications related to diabetes, leaving the two boys in the guardianship of a benevolent Catholic priest, Fr. Francis Morgan. Ronald always blamed his mother's death on her family's negligence and thought of her as a martyr for her faith. As he continued at King Edwards, Ronald became increasingly interested in the study of language and began to invent languages of his own. When he was sixteen, he met Edith Bratt, three years his senior; the two were captivated with each other, but Fr. Francis forbade Ronald to see Edith. Despite his real love for Edith, Ronald obeyed.
In 1910, on his second attempt, Ronald Tolkien succeeded in winning a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied philology with the legendary Joseph Wright. On his twenty-first birthday, he wrote to Edith and renewed their relationship. They became engaged, and she converted to Catholicism. World War I broke out in 1914, and Tolkien enlisted in the armed service in a special program that allowed him to complete his degree. In 1915, he took a First in English at Oxford, an accomplishment that assured him of a professional academic position.
