The most important events in the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis
29 November 1898
Clive Staples Lewis born in Belfast
29 January 1899
Baptised in St Mark’s Church, Dundela
21 April 1905
Lewis family moves from Dundela Villas to Little Lea
23 August 1908
Mother Flora Lewis dies
18 September 1908
Enrolled at Wynyard School, Belfast
September 1910
Enrolled at Campbell College, Belfast
January 1911
Enrolled at Cherbourg Preparatory School in Malvern
18 September 1913
Enrolled at Malvern College
19 September 1914
Beginning private studies with William Kirkpatrick in Great Bookham, Surrey
6 December 1914
Confirmed at St Mark’s Church, Dundela
13 December 1916
Receiving a scholarship to University College, Oxford
April 1917
Arriving at Oxford to begin studies
May 1917
Joining the British Army, and billeted at Keble College in Oxford to be trained as an officer
17 November 1917
Sent to France with 3rd Somerset Light Infantry
29 November 1917
Arriving at the Western Front in France
February 1918
Admitted to the British Red Cross Hospital at Le Tréport with trench fever
15 April 1918
Wounded at Riez du Vinage during the battle of Arras and admitted to the British Red Cross Hospital near Etaples
25 May 1918
Transferred to Endsleigh Palace Hospital, London
July 1918
Transferred to Ashton Court Hospital, Bristol
24 December 1918
Discharged from hospital and demobilised
13 January 1919
Return to University College Oxford
20 March 1919
Publication of Spirits in Bondage. A Cycle of Lyrics
31 March 1920
Taking First in Classical Honour Moderations and beginning reading Literae Humaniores
June 1921
Joining the household of Mrs Janie Moore in Oxford
1 August 1922
Moving with the family Moore to Hillsboro House in Oxford
4 August 1922
Taking First in Literae Humaniores
October 1922
Start reading English Language and Literature
16 July 1923
Taking First in English Language and Literature
May 1924
Start one-year temporary post as Tutor at University College, Oxford
20 May 1925
Elected Fellow and Tutor in English of Magdalen College, Oxford
20 September 1926
Publication of Dymer
25 September 1929
Father Albert Lewis dies
11 October 1930
Moving with the family Moore and brother Warren from Hillsboro House to the Kilns, Oxford
September 1931
Return to a belief in Christianity
25 May 1933
Publication of The Pilgrim’s Regress. An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism
21 May 1936
Publication of The Allegory of Love. A Study in Medieval Tradition
23 September 1938
Publication of Out of the Silent Planet
23 March 1939
Publication of Rehabilitations. And Other Essays
27 April 1939
Publication of The Personal Heresy. A Controversy
4 February 1940
Publication of The Problem of Pain
April 1940
First weekly Thursday evening meeting of the Inklings until October 1949
6 August 1941
Start first series BBC radio broadcasts about Christianity
11 January 1942
Start second series BBC radio broadcasts about Christianity
26 January 1942
First meeting of the Oxford University Socratic Club with C.S. Lewis as its first president
9 February 1942
Publication of The Screwtape Letters
13 July 1942
Publication of Broadcast Talks
8 October 1942
Publication of A Preface to ‘Paradise Lost’
6 January 1943
Publication of The Abolition of Man
19 April 1943
Publication of Christian Behaviour. A Further Series of Broadcast Talks
20 April 1943
Publication of Perelandra. A Novel
20 September 1943
Start third series BBC radio broadcasts about Christianity
22 February 1944
Start fourth series BBC radio broadcasts about Christianity
9 October 1944
Publication of Beyond Personality. The Christian Idea of God
16 August 1945
Publication of That Hideous Strength. A Modern Fairytale for Grown-ups
14 January 1946
Publication of The Great Divorce. A Dream
March 1946
Receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from St Andrews University, Scotland
18 March 1946
Publication of George MacDonald. An Anthology by C.S. Lewis
12 May 1947
Publication of Miracles. A Preliminary Study
1948
Elected Fellow of Royal Society of Literature
21 October 1948
Publication of Arthurian Torso
1949
Publication of Transposition. And Other Addresses
16 October 1950
Publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A Story for Children
15 October 1951
Publication of Prince Caspian. The Return to Narnia
7 July 1952
Publication of Mere Christianity
September 1952
First meetings with Joy Davidman
15 September 1952
Publication of The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’
7 September 1953
Publication of The Silver Chair
November 1953
Joy Davidman comes to England with her sons David and Douglas
4 June 1954
Elected Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University
6 September 1954
Publication of The Horse and His Boy
16 September 1954
Publication of English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama
29 November 1954
Inaugural Lecture at Cambridge University
2 May 1955
Publication of The Magician’s Nephew
July 1955
Elected Member of the British Academy
19 September 1955
Publication of Surprised by Joy. The Shape of My Early Life
19 March 1956
Publication of The Last Battle. A Story for Children
23 April 1956
Married with Joy Davidman in a civil ceremony at the Oxford Registry Office
10 September 1956
Publication of Till We Have Faces. A Myth Retold
21 March 1957
Marriage by Rev Peter Bide in Joy’s hospital room at Wingfield-Morris Hospital, Oxford
8 September 1958
Publication of Reflections on the Psalms
26 March 1959
Elected Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford
13 May 1959
Made Doctor of Letters by Manchester University
June 1959
On Commission for Revision of the Psalter
7 January 1960
Publication of The Four Loves
10 February 1960
Publication of The World’s Last Night. And Other Essays
April 1960
On holiday in Greece
13 July 1960
Joy dies
9 September 1960
Publication of Studies in Words
24 June 1961
Diagnosed with enlarged prostate, too dangerous to operate
29 September 1961
Publication of A Grief Observed
13 October 1961
Publication of An Experiment in Criticism
1962
Honorary Doctorate by University of Dijon
26 February 1962
Publication of They Asked for a Paper. Papers and Addresses
1963
Honorary Doctorate by University of Lyon
15 June 1963
Admitted to Acland nursing Home following a heart attack
22 November 1963
C.S. Lewis dies at his home in Oxford
27 November 1963
Buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry, Oxford
27 January 1964
Publication of Letters to Malcolm. Chiefly on Prayer
7 May 1964
Publication of The Discarded Image. An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
26 October 1964
Publication of Poems (edited by Walter Hooper)
4 January 1965
Publication of Screwtape Proposes a Toast and Other Pieces
9 June 1966
Publication of Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (collected by Walter Hooper)
18 April 1966
Publication of Letters of C.S. Lewis (edited, with a memoir, by W.H. Lewis)
5 September 1967
Publication of Of Other Worlds. Essays and Stories (edited by Walter Hooper)
23 January 1967
Publication of Christian Reflections (edited by Walter Hooper)
2 November 1967
Publication of Spenser’s Images of Life (edited by Alastair Fowler)
1967
Publication of Letters to an American Lady (edited by Clyde S. Kilby)
27 October 1969
Publication of Narrative Poems (edited by Walter Hooper)
4 December 1969
Publication of Selected Literary Essays (edited by Walter Hooper)
30 November 1970
Publication of God in the Dock. Essays on Theology and Ethics – U.S. edition (edited by Walter Hooper)
29 September 1975
Publication of Fern-Seed and Elephants. And Other Essays on Christianity (edited by Walter Hooper)
28 February 1977
Publication of The Dark Tower. And Other Stories (edited by Walter Hooper)
29 March 1979
Publication of God in the Dock. Essays on Theology – U.K. edition (edited by Walter Hooper)
19 April 1979
Publication of They Stand Together. The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves 1914–1963 (edited by Walter Hooper)
6 September 1982
Publication of Of This and Other Worlds (edited by Walter Hooper)
28 May 1985
Publication of Boxen. The Imaginary World of the Young C.S. Lewis (edited by Walter Hooper)
11 April 1985
Publication of C.S. Lewis: Letters to Children (edited by Lyle Dorset and Marjorie Lamp Mead)
11 July 1985
Publication of First and Second Things. Essays on Theology and Ethics (edited by Walter Hooper)
10 July 1986
Publication of Present Concerns (edited by Walter Hooper)
16 July 1987
Publication of Timeless at Heart: Essays on Theology (edited by Walter Hooper)
January 1989
Publication of Letters C.S. Lewis – Don Giovanni Calabria. A Study in Friendship (translated and edited by Martin Moynihan)
15 August 1990
Publication of Christian Reunion. And Other Essays (edited by Walter Hooper)
18 April 1991
Publication of All My Road Before Me. The Diary of C.S. Lewis 1922–1927 (edited by Walter Hooper)
30 May 1994
Publication of The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis (edited by Walter Hooper)
1996
Publication of Compelling Reason. Essays on Ethics and Theology (edited by Walter Hooper)
1 January 2000
Publication of Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces (edited by Lesley Walmsley)
Publication of C.S. Lewis: Collected Letters. Volume 1: Family Letters, 1905–1931 (edited by Walter Hooper)
1 January 2002
Publication of Essay Collection: Literature, Philosophy and Short Stories (edited by Lesley Walmsley)
Publication of Essay Collection: Faith, Christianity and the Church (edited by Lesley Walmsley)
1 January 2004
Publication of C.S. Lewis: Collected Letters. Volume 2: Books, Broadcasts and War, 1931–1949 (edited by Walter Hooper)
9 January 2007
Publication of C.S. Lewis: Collected Letters. Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge and Joy, 1950–1963 (edited by Walter Hooper)
3 May 2011
Publication of C.S. Lewis’s Lost Aeneid. Arms and the Exile (edited with an introduction by A.T. Reyes)
18 November 2013
Publication of Image and Imagination. Essays and Reviews (edited by Walter Hooper)
22 November 2013
Dedication of a memorial stone in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey, London
7 January 2015
Publication of The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis. A Critical Edition (edited by Don W. King)
Sources
Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis. Companion & Guide
Jeffrey Schultz & John West, The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia