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Edith Mary (Bratt) Tolkien (1889-1971) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

  • ️Tue Jun 20 2023

Biography

Notables Project

Edith (Bratt) Tolkien is Notable.

Wife of the novelist J. R. R. Tolkien. She was the inspiration for his fictional Middle-earth characters Lúthien Tinúviel and Arwen Undómiel.

Edith Mary Bratt was born 21 January 1889 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England and was baptised there on 13 February 1889 at Ryecroft Chapel (non-conformist baptism). Parents' name were given as Frederick and Fanny and their residence was 25 Arthur Street.[1][2]

In actuality, her mother Frances Janney Bratt was not married and her father was Alfred Frederick Warrillow who had employed Fanny as a governess a few years earlier for his daughter Nellie and whose wife Charlotte filed a petition for divorce because of his adultery on numerous occasions with Fanny Bratt.

For some reason, while her mother Frances Bratt was living in the home that once belonged to Alfred Frederick Warrilow -- Hudson House in Stechford, Yardley, Worcester, it's uncertain why she did not have her only child with her.[3]

1891 CENSUS - St Mary Barton, Gloucester, Gloucestershire [4]

George W Clifford 45 Head
Emma C Clifford 46 Wife
Walter I Clifford 7 Son
Florence J Clifford 4 Daughter
Edith Bratt 2 Boarder Gloucester

The 1901 Census of England, Wales and Scotland recorded Edith Bratt as 12 years old, living in Handsworth, Staffordshire, England, in the household of Frances Bratt, age 42, born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. Frances' cousin, 37-year-old Mary J. Grove, born in Liverpool, was also in the household.[5] The census listed Frances Bratt as Edith's aunt, but in fact she was Edith's mother.

She married J. R. R. Tolkien in 1916.

Edith died at the age of 82 on 29 November 1971 in Bournemouth, Hampshire (now Dorset), England and was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.[6]

Obituary

  • "Deaths : TOLKIEN - On November 29th, 1971, at Bournemouth, Edith Mary, beloved wife for 55 years of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, mother of John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla, grandmother of Michael, George, Joan, Anne, Judith, Simon, Adam, and Rachel, and great grandmother of Amanda, Royd, and Catherine. Requiem mass Thursday, December 2nd, 9 a.m., at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Bournemouth, interment following at 1:15 p.m. at Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford. Flowers may be sent on Wednesday to Deric-Scott, Portman Lodge Funeral House, 755 Christchurch Rd., Bournemouth."[7]

Sources

  1. ↑ FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
  2. ↑ Ancestry.com. Web: Gloucestershire, England, Non-Conformist Baptisms Index, 1739-1987 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
  3. ↑ 1891 Census for Frances Bratt
  4. ↑ 1891 Census for Edith Bratt
  5. ↑ 1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census. [http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc/1901/2709-2710/0570&parentid=gbc/1901/0014744926 Enumeration sheet for Handsworth, Staffordshire, accessed at FindMyPast on 2 July 2016.
  6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #19696821
  7. ↑ The Times, Tuesday, Nov 30, 1971

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