The most important events in the life of C.S. Lewis


29 November 1898

Clive Staples Lewis born in Belfast


29 January 1899

Baptized in St Mark’s Church, Dundela


21 April 1905

Lewis family moves from Dundela Villas to Little Lea


23 August 1908

Mother Flora 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 T. 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


February 1918

Admitted to Le Tréport hospital with trench fever


15 April 1918

Wounded on Mount Bernenchon during the battle of Arras, France


25 May 1918

Transferred to Endsleigh Palace Hospital, London


July 1918

Transferred to Ashton Court Hospital, Bristol


13 January 1919

Demobilised and return to Oxford, making a home with Mrs Moore


31 March 1920

Taking First in Classical Honour Moderations and beginning reading Literae Humaniores


1 August 1922

Moving with the family Moore to Hillsboro House, 14 Holyoake Road, 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


25 September 1929

Father Albert 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


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


20 September 1943

Start third series BBC radio broadcasts about Christianity


22 February 1944

Start fourth series BBC radio broadcasts about Christianity


March 1946

Receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from St Andrews University, Scotland


1948

Elected Fellow of Royal Society of Literature


September 1952

First meetings with Joy Davidman


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


29 November 1954

Inaugural Lecture at Cambridge University


July 1955

Elected Member of the British Academy


23 April 1956

Married with Joy Davidman in a civil ceremony at the Oxford Registry Office


21 March 1957

Marriage by Rev Peter Bide in Joy’s hospital room at Wingfield-Morris Hospital, Oxford


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


April 1960

On holiday in Greece


13 July 1960

Joy dies


24 June 1961

Diagnosed with enlarged prostate, too dangerous to operate


1962

Given Honorary Doctorate by University of Dijon


1963

Given 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


22 November 2013

Dedication of a memorial stone in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey, London


Sources

Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis. Companion & Guide
Jeffrey Schultz & John West, The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia