Which university employed J.R.R. Tolkien before he joined Oxford’s faculty?

The University of Leeds employed J.R.R. Tolkien before he joined Oxford’s faculty.

Tolkien worked at the University of Leeds from 1920 to 1925. He first served as a reader in English language and later became a professor of English language. His Leeds years were important because they combined teaching, scholarship, and the development of ideas that would continue throughout his career.

While at Leeds, Tolkien collaborated with E.V. Gordon on an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a major Middle English poem. Their edition appeared in 1925 and became an influential scholarly work. Tolkien also continued developing his linguistic expertise and writing early forms of his mythology.

In 1925, Tolkien moved to Oxford after being appointed Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. That Oxford appointment is distinct from his earlier university work in Leeds. Consequently, Leeds is the answer when the question asks for the university he worked at immediately before his Oxford faculty career.