J.R.R. Tolkien married Edith Bratt in 1916.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Edith Bratt married on 22 March 1916 at St Mary Immaculate Roman Catholic Church in Warwick, England. Their relationship had begun when Tolkien was a teenager, but his guardian had initially forbidden him from seeing Edith until he reached adulthood.
The couple married shortly before Tolkien was sent to France during the First World War. Tolkien served with the Lancashire Fusiliers and took part in the Battle of the Somme later that year. Edith remained an important figure throughout his life, and elements of their relationship are often connected with the fictional love story of Beren and Lúthien.
The date is sometimes confused with the year Tolkien first met Edith or with the year of his military service. Their courtship began years earlier, while the marriage itself took place in 1916. Edith died in 1971, and Tolkien died two years later.