At which Oxford college did J.R.R. Tolkien begin teaching as a professor?

J.R.R. Tolkien began teaching as a professor at Pembroke College, Oxford.

In 1925, Tolkien was appointed Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford and became a fellow of Pembroke College. He remained associated with Pembroke until 1945, when he moved to Merton College as Professor of English Language and Literature.

His Pembroke years included important academic work and the development of major creative writings. He wrote much of The Hobbit and the early parts of The Lord of the Rings during this period, although his academic career remained centered on Old and Middle English language and literature.

Tolkien’s later connection with Merton is very well known, which can lead to the mistaken answer that he began there. Merton was his later Oxford college, not his first professorial base.