12 hours ago
2025-5-12 6:48:19 PM UTC
When reading Mabel Tolkien's brother William Suffield's probate I noted that he lived at 5 Gracewell Cottage, Sarehole at the time of his death. This is the same address that J.R.R. lived at as a child. Has anyone noted this before? If so, is there an explanation? Did William rent it when Mabel and the boys moved out or did he own it and rent it to Mabel?
11 hours ago
2025-5-12 6:58:10 PM UTC
I am not with my books right now but I am fairly certain that
Findegil (Hammond and Scull) did not remark on this in their
JRRT Companion and Guide, but I was re-reading
Biography (Carpenter) just the other day and he says that Mabel rented it from a "local landowner".
11 hours ago
2025-5-12 7:14:09 PM UTC
Yes, I noted that too, but I was wondering if that was a researched fact or if there was possibly some level of assumption there, in view of the fact that Probates were not readily available on line when Carpenter wrote his Biography. I have accessed William Suffield's Probate via Ancestry.com
Thanks for your interest.
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