Tolkien and "The Surtees Society"
3 January
(edited)
2026-1-3 4:42:30 PM UTC
2026-1-3 4:42:30 PM UTC
Internet searches about Tolkien's life continue to yield surprises.
A previously unknown discovery about J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in the publication ‘Fasti Dunelmenses, A Record of the Beneficed Clergy of the Diocese of Durham Down to the Dissolution of the Monastic and Collegiate Churches’, published by the Surtees Society in 1926. This is an English historical and ecclesiastical work that systematically collects the names and positions of the clergy who received ‘benefices’ (i.e., who had an ecclesiastical benefit) in the diocese of Durham until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Beyond this, at the end of the book there is a report on the activities of the Surtees Society in 1925, including a list of members. And it is here (page 270) that Tolkien is listed, a membership that I haven’t found anywhere else:
https://archive.org/details/fastidunelmenses/mode/2up
A previously unknown discovery about J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in the publication ‘Fasti Dunelmenses, A Record of the Beneficed Clergy of the Diocese of Durham Down to the Dissolution of the Monastic and Collegiate Churches’, published by the Surtees Society in 1926. This is an English historical and ecclesiastical work that systematically collects the names and positions of the clergy who received ‘benefices’ (i.e., who had an ecclesiastical benefit) in the diocese of Durham until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Beyond this, at the end of the book there is a report on the activities of the Surtees Society in 1925, including a list of members. And it is here (page 270) that Tolkien is listed, a membership that I haven’t found anywhere else:
https://archive.org/details/fastidunelmenses/mode/2up
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