T. C. B. S.
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The semi-secret school club known as the T.C.B.S. (in full Tea Club and Barrovian Society) was formed by pupils at King Edward's School, Birmingham in 1910. At the core of the group were four friends: J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Wiseman, Rob Gilson, and G.B. Smith. All four fought in the Great War, with Wiseman serving in the Royal Navy and the other three becoming junior British Army officers. Wiseman saw action at the Battle of Jutland but suffered no injuries. Smith and Gilson perished in The Battle of the Somme. Tolkien also saw action at the Somme but was uninjured. He contracted trench fever and returned to England, where he spent the rest of the War in hospitals or on light duty. After the War, Wiseman and Tolkien became estranged (Tolkien would go on to teach language and write poems and stories; Wiseman went on to teach music), and the T.C.B.S. was essentially dissolved. The two corresponded sporadically thereafter, including a few letters in the last years of Tolkien's life.
[edit] Resources
- Tolkien and his Circle
- Tolkien and the Great War, John Garth ISBN 0-618-33129-8
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