In which city was J.R.R. Tolkien born?

J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, in what was then the Orange Free State.

Tolkien was born there on 3 January 1892 while his father, Arthur Tolkien, worked as a bank manager. The family connection with southern Africa was brief: after Arthur’s death in 1896, Tolkien, his mother, and his younger brother returned to England.

Although Tolkien is strongly associated with Oxford and the English Midlands, neither city was his birthplace. Birmingham became important during his childhood, while Oxford became the setting for much of his academic career and writing life.

Bloemfontein is now in South Africa. Tolkien’s early movement between southern Africa and England is one of the biographical details often omitted when his life is summarized only through his Oxford years.