Raymond Wilson Chambers

Raymond Wilson Chambers (12 November 1874 – 23 April 1942) was a British literary scholar, author, and academic; throughout his career he was associated with University College London (UCL).

Chambers was educated at University College, studying under such eminent scholars as W.P. Ker and A. E. Housman; he was Librarian at that institution from 1901 to 1922, and Assistant Professor in the English Department, 1904-14. He served in World War I, with the Red Cross in France, and in Belgium with the YMCA/B.E.F. Chambers became Quain Professor of English at UCL in 1922. Chambers wrote on a wide variety of subjects relating to English literature, history, and culture; notably, he worked on the Shakespearean additions to the play Sir Thomas More, with Alfred W. Pollard and other scholars. His acclaimed 1935 biography, Thomas More, was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Chambers was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and their careers parallel each other at many points: both were Catholics (Tolkien a Roman and Chambers an Anglo-Catholic), scholars of Old English literature, both experienced the horrors of trench warfare in World War I (Chambers was too old to be an enlisted man, however), and both wrote influentially on Beowulf (Chambers' writings were one of the inspirations for Tolkien's "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics"). Thomas Shippey described Chambers as "a patron and supporter of Tolkien in his early years."

...
Wikipedia