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Arthur Reuel Tolkien                           1857-1896
Arthur was born 18 February 1857, the son of John Benjamin Tolkien and Mary Jane Stow, at Handsworth, Staffordshire. He was a bank clerk, and went to South Africa in the 1890s for better prospects of promotion. Mabel Suffield joined him there, and they were married.
Mabel Suffield                                      1870-1904
Mabel was born about 1870, the daughter of John Suffield Jr. and Emily Jane Sparrow, at Yardley, Warwickshire. She met an early death due to diabetes, which at that time was incurable. The children were then taken under the guardianship of Father Francis Xavier Morgan, who placed them first with an aunt and then at a boarding house for orphans.
I have identified the following children.
John Ronald Reuel Born 3 Jan 1892   Bloemfontein, South Africa Married Edith Bratt
Hilary Arthur Reuel Born 17 Feb 1894   Bloemfontein, South Africa  

Birth of Parents
Arthur Reuel Tolkien b: 18 Feb 1857         Handsworth, Staffordshire       1857 1Q West Bromwich 6b 568
son of John Benjamin Tolkien and Mary Jane Stow

Mabel Suffield b: abt 1870               Yardley, Warwickshire       1870 1Q Solihull 6d 503
daughter of John Suffield Jr. and Emily Jane Sparrow

Marriage
16 Apr 1891
Arthur Reuel Tolkien
Mabel Suffield 		Bloemfontein, South Africa

Children
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien b: 3 Jan 1892  c: 31 Jan 1892             Bloemfontein, South Africa
son of Arthur Reuel Tolkien and Mabel Suffield
Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien b: 17 Feb 1894                                    Bloemfontein, South Africa
son of Arthur Reuel Tolkien and Mabel Suffield

Death
Arthur Reuel Tolkien Died 15 Feb 1896,  at Bloemfontein, South Africa

1901 Census RG13-2806 1 April 1901 Kings Norton, Worcestershire
86 Westfield Road
Mabel Tonkien (Widow)
John R. R.
Hilary A. R. 		Age 31
Age 9
Age 7 		Living on own means Moseley
Orange Free State
Orange Free State 		Warwickshire
South Africa
South Africa 		abt 1870
3 Jan 1892
17 Feb 1894

Death
Mabel (Suffield) Tolkien Died 14 Nov 1904, Age 34,         1904 4Q Kings Norton 6c 227

WORCESTER   6 Jan 1905                         Probate
TOLKIEN, Mabel, of Woodside-cottage, Rednal, Worcestershire, widow, died 14 November 1904, Probate, Worcester, 6 January, to the Reverend Francis Morgan, clerk.   Effects £1,261 16s. 10d.

1911 Census RG14-118 3 April 1911 Edgbaston, Worcestershire
4 Highfield Road
Thomas Macsherry
Julia Elizabeth (Wife)
 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Boarder)
Hilary Arthur Tolkien (Boarder)
Mary Saunders (Visitor)
(Plus 1 Servant) 		Age 48
Age 39
 Age 19
Age 17
Age 25 		Dir. Whiskey Distillery

 Student
Hardware Clerk 		Cookstown
Waterford
 Orange River Col.
Orange River Col.
Cork 		Co. Tyrone

 Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein 		abt 1862
abt 1871
 3 Jan 1892
17 Feb 1894
abt 1885