TCG Letter #1710

Allen Mawer writes a testimonial in support of Tolkien's application^{Carpenter #7: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to [University of Oxford Electors] • 27 June 1925 (#7)[1]} to the vacant seat of Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford.^{Letters of support for Tolkien's application included: Letter from Henry Bradley to Leeds University (letter of recomendation) • 7 June 1920 (#907), Letter from M.E. Sadler to J.R.R. Tolkien (testimonial) • 17 June 1925 (#1706), Letter from L.R. Farnell to J.R.R. Tolkien (testimonial) • 23 June 1925 (#1707), Letter from Joseph Wright to J.R.R. Tolkien (testimonial) • 22 June 1925 (#1708), Letter from George S. Gordon to J.R.R. Tolkien (testimonial) • 28 June 1925 (#1709), Letter from Allen Mawer to J.R.R. Tolkien (testimonial) • 25 June 1925 (#1710), Letter from Lascelles Abercrombie to J.R.R. Tolkien (testimonial) • June 1925 (#1711).[2]} It was expected that Mawer would apply but he decided against it.

On 21 July 1925, the electors to the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon met to discuss and elect one of the three applicants to the vacated chair. Tolkien is elected in a vote of four to three from Kenneth Sisam. Present are H.M. Chadwick (Cambridge), R.W. Chambers (University College London. Chambers had been offered the position but turned it down), Herman G. Fielder (Oxford), C.T. Onions (Oxford), Rev. Charles Plummer of Corpus Christi College, and Joseph Wells (Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University).^{Tolkien's election is announced the following day in The Times[3]}