J.R.R. Tolkien served as a fellow and tutor at Pembroke College, Oxford, after joining its faculty in 1925.
Tolkien became Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford in 1925, and Pembroke College was the college associated with that academic post. He remained there until 1945, when he moved to Merton College after becoming Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.
His Pembroke years were especially important creatively. He wrote or developed much of The Hobbit and began substantial work on The Lord of the Rings during this period. Oxford teaching, medieval literature, languages, and academic friendships all formed part of his working environment.
The college names can be confusing because Tolkien later became closely associated with Merton. Pembroke refers to the earlier stage of his Oxford academic career, while Merton was his later college affiliation.