55:
20:
102:, disapproved: her father disowned her, and her brother-in-law Walter Incledon, who had been assisting her financially, withdrew his support. May was forbidden by her husband to attend Catholic services, but Mabel persevered in her faith, taking her sons to Mass and arranging for them to attend a school conducted by the
183:; she lived to see him take his first communion. He said of her that "My own dear mother was a martyr indeed, and it is not to everybody that God grants to easy a way to His great gifts as He did to Hilary and myself, giving us a mother who killed herself with labour and trouble to ensure us keeping the faith."
172:, who traces some of his attributes to his maternal 'Tookish' side. 'The Old Took and his three remarkable daughters' is thought to be an allusion to Mabel and her family. Mabel's sister Jane Neave also owned a farm called Bag End, where Tolkien was sent to stay during Mabel's illness, which became the name of
158:
Tolkien wrote of his mother's influence on him to his son
Michael: "Though a Tolkien by name, I am a Suffield by tastes, talents and upbringing... is in an indefinable way 'home' to me, as no other part of the world is. Your grandmother, to whom you owe so much – for she was a gifted lady of great
86:
the following month. They had two sons, John Ronald Reuel (b. January 1892) and Hilary Arthur (b. February 1894); J.R.R.'s health struggled in the South
African climate. In April 1895, Mabel brought her sons to England for a visit. Arthur, who had remained in Bloemfontein to work, contracted
167:
talents (the
Suffields were platemakers, engravers, and booksellers, and Mabel taught Tolkien calligraphy) comes from his mother’s side of the family. His sense of the split between both sides of his heritage is thought to have contributed to the 'double-sided' nature of his character
73:
When Mabel was eighteen, she received a proposal of marriage from Arthur
Tolkien, a bank clerk, who was thirteen years her senior. Her father did not allow a formal betrothal on the grounds that Mabel was too young and Arthur was unable to support her. Arthur moved to
137:
to tutor him herself when she realised that he was outpacing his classmates. She "set up a rigorous programme" in which she taught "all the subjects herself", except geometry, which was taught by one of her sisters. This led to his winning a
Foundation Scholarship to
125:
and romance: "I am in fact far more of a
Suffield (a family deriving from Evesham in Worcestershire), and it is to my mother who taught me (until I obtained a scholarship at the ancient Grammar School in Birmingham) that I owe my tastes for philology,
121:, and drawing, and instructed them in the Catholic faith. She is credited with a talent and enthusiasm for languages, nature, calligraphy and etymology, which she passed on to Tolkien; he cites her as the origin of his interest in
150:, who lived nearby in the Oratory which conducted St Philip’s School, arranged for the family to rent rooms in the Oratory’s lodge cottage, where Mabel died in November 1904. Father Francis became the guardian of her sons.
38:. She acted as Tolkien's tutor both in early life and in preparation for grammar school, and was an influence on his life, faith, and writing. Tolkien traced his interest in
42:
and romance to her, and his awareness of her hard work and suffering for the sake of her sons, especially when she was rejected by her family because of her conversion to
159:
beauty and wit, greatly stricken by God with grief and suffering, who died in youth (at 34) of a disease hastened by persecution of her faith..." His connection with the
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explains that he felt she was a "martyr" because of the way her father had disowned her when she had become a
Catholic.
127:
70:
Sparrow. The family was prosperous until
Suffield's drapery business was closed when the site was redeveloped in 1886.
730:
185:
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370:
23:
Mabel
Tolkien in 1892 in Bloemfontein with her husband and infant sons, their 'house-boy' Isaak, and an unnamed maid
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95:, Birmingham, which she rented using the proceeds from Arthur's share in a gold mine and support from her family.
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and died in
February 1896. After staying with her parents, Mabel moved with her sons a cottage near
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130:, and for romance." although she was unable to interest him in her other strength, the piano.
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She moved the family several times to facilitate Tolkien's education, withdrawing him from
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In 1900, Mabel and her sister May Incledon converted to Catholicism. Her family, who were
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Blue plaque at Sarehole Mill noting the Tolkien family's time living nearby
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Mabel taught her sons to read and write, and then taught them
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66:, the second daughter of John Suffield and his wife Emily,
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346:
691:
The Real J.R.R. Tolkien: The Man Who Created Middle-Earth
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270:
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Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth
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46:, left a lasting impact on him, as did her early death.
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82:, and Mabel joined him in March 1891. They married in
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673:. New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 628.
557:. New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 142.
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822:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Methodism
142:in 1903. In 1904, Mabel was diagnosed with
842:Deaths from diabetes in the United Kingdom
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34:Suffield, 1870 – 1904) was the mother of
507:J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend
181:a lasting impact on Tolkien and his work
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62:Mabel Suffield was born in 1870 in
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832:English emigrants to South Africa
671:The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
669:. In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.).
555:The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
553:. In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.).
186:The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
179:Mabel's Catholic convictions had
140:King Edward's School, Birmingham
128:especially of Germanic languages
599:A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien
478:The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
197:Mabel Tolkien was portrayed by
480:: Revised and Expanded Edition
1:
534:. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
454:J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography
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148:Father Francis Xavier Morgan
7:
626:. Oxford University Press.
10:
858:
817:19th-century English women
761:John Francis Reuel Tolkien
441:
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665:Tubbs, Patricia (2013) .
602:. John Wiley & Sons.
549:Harper, Amelia (2013) .
837:English Roman Catholics
776:Priscilla Reuel Tolkien
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771:Mabel Suffield Tolkien
688:Xander, Jesse (2021).
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24:
647:Tolkien: Man and Myth
578:. Infobase Learning.
163:and his artistic and
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22:
572:Heims, Neil (2013).
327:, Letter 165 to the
243:, "Suffield Family".
154:Influence on Tolkien
766:Christopher Tolkien
473:Carpenter, Humphrey
449:Carpenter, Humphrey
650:. Ignatius Press.
193:In popular culture
135:St Philip's School
104:Birmingham Oratory
60:
25:
794:
793:
701:978-1-5267-6516-1
680:978-0-415-96942-0
667:"Suffield Family"
657:978-1-64229-091-2
633:978-0-7463-0763-2
609:978-1-119-69140-2
585:978-1-4381-4838-0
564:978-0-415-96942-0
541:978-0-544-26372-7
517:978-0-7459-5514-8
493:978-0-35-865298-4
464:978-0-00-738125-8
457:. HarperCollins.
395:, pp. 11–13.
367:, pp. 36–39.
355:, pp. 25–30.
303:, pp. 31–32.
279:, pp. 17–24.
201:in the 2019 film
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343:, "Education".
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146:. Her friend
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812:1904 deaths
807:1870 births
786:Tim Tolkien
551:"Education"
526:Garth, John
341:Harper 2013
289:Pearce 2019
265:Duriez 2012
253:Xander 2021
44:Catholicism
801:Categories
393:Garth 2013
241:Tubbs 2013
224:Heims 2013
211:References
64:Birmingham
451:(2011) .
123:philology
100:Methodist
84:Cape Town
40:philology
644:(2019).
620:(1995).
596:(2022).
528:(2013).
504:(2012).
313:Lee 2022
442:Sources
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