J.R.R. Tolkien

Geoffrey Smith

Although a relative latecomer to Tolkien’s TCBS group he was to become one of his closest friends. It was probably Smith’s interest in modern literature that influenced Tolkien’s poetic beginnings.

Geoffrey Smith was born on 18th October 1894 and attended the same school as Tolkien and Robert Gilson: King Edward’s School, Birmingham.

When war broke out he was studying at Corpus Christi College Oxford. In October 1914 he joined the Oxford University Officer Training Corps as a Private, but on 1st December 1914 he put in his nomination for a commission. The forms were signed by his old headmaster at King Edward’s — Robert Gilson’s father: Cary.

He joined the 19th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers who were sent to France in November 1915.

A year later in the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme, Smith was acting as Adjutant for the Battalion which were now camped near the village of Souastre on the Doullens — Arras Road.

On 29th November 1916 the Battalion was shelled and Smith was hit by shrapnel. By 2nd December his wounds to his right arm were considered dangerous and at 0330 hours the following morning he died.

Geoffrey Smith had written to Tolkien following Robert Gilson’s death on 1st July 1916 to say that their TCBS would endure but his own death just five months later and only weeks after Tolkien himself had been hospitalised back to Birmingham had a profound affect on Tolkien.

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War Diary

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