What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s military rank when he served in the Battle of the Somme in 1916?

J.R.R. Tolkien served at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was commissioned after completing military training during the First World War.

Tolkien served as a signals officer and took part in the Somme offensive. He became ill with trench fever and was sent back to England in October 1916. The illness prevented his return to active service for the rest of the war, although he remained in the army and performed duties in England.

Tolkien’s wartime experiences influenced some readers’ interpretations of his fiction, especially its depictions of fear, loss, comradeship, and landscapes damaged by conflict. He consistently resisted simple one-to-one allegorical readings, however. His rank is sometimes misstated because he later became famous as a professor rather than as a career military officer.