What was the name of the literary society J.R.R. Tolkien joined at King Edward’s School?

J.R.R. Tolkien joined the Tea Club and Barrovian Society at King Edward’s School.

The Tea Club and Barrovian Society, commonly abbreviated TCBS, was a group of friends Tolkien belonged to while attending King Edward’s School in Birmingham. Its members shared literary ambitions, discussed poetry, and encouraged one another’s creative work.

The group’s name referred to tea drinking and Barrow’s Stores, a department store near the school where some of the boys met. Tolkien’s close friends in the circle included Christopher Wiseman, Robert Gilson, and Geoffrey Bache Smith. Their friendship remained important after school, even as the First World War disrupted their lives.

The TCBS is sometimes confused with the Inklings, the later Oxford discussion group that included C.S. Lewis. The two groups belonged to different periods and social settings. The TCBS was formed during Tolkien’s school years, while the Inklings met in Oxford decades later and discussed works in progress.