At which Oxford college was J.R.R. Tolkien a professor from 1945 to 1959?

J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor at Merton College, Oxford, from 1945 to 1959.

He held the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature during this period. Before moving to Merton, Tolkien had been Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University and had taught at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Tolkien’s academic career was closely connected with his creative work. His expertise in Old English, Middle English, and historical linguistics informed both his scholarship and the languages, names, poetry, and legends of Middle-earth. He continued writing and revising his mythology alongside his university duties.

Oxford colleges are easy to confuse because Tolkien worked and lived within the university for decades. Pembroke is especially associated with his earlier teaching career and the writing of The Hobbit, while Merton is the correct college for his later professorship from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.