Tolkien Gateway

Edith Tolkien

Edith Bratt
"...only the rarest good fortune brings together the man and woman who are really as it were 'destined' for one another, and capable of a very great and splendid love."
J.R.R. Tolkien to his son Michael in Letter 43

Edith Mary Tolkien (née Bratt) (January 21, 1889November 29, 1971) was the daughter of Frances Bratt and Alfred Frederick Warrilow. She would become J.R.R. Tolkien's wife.

When Tolkien was living at 37 Duchess Road, Edgbaston, Edith was a young female lodger who lived in the bedroom beneath Tolkien and his brother Hilary.

They were married on Wednesday, 22 March, 1916 in Warwickshire, England. She was the mother of his four children: John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla.

J.R.R. Tolkien never referred to Edith as Lúthien, but he considered her as such, so he asked that the names Beren and Lúthien were inscribed on the grave they share.[1]

[edit] Family Tree

Edith Bratt
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Tolkien
Michael Tolkien
Faith Faulconbridge
Christopher Tolkien
Baillie Tolkien
Priscilla Tolkien
Simon Tolkien
Adam Tolkien
Rachel Tolkien


  1. J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 340, (dated 11 July 1972), p. 420