Robert Quilter Gilson
From Tolkien Gateway
Lieutenant Robert Quilter Gilson (October 25, 1893- July 1, 1916) was a childhood friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. Gilson, Tolkien and Geoffrey Bache Smith attended King Edward's School in Birmingham together, and served in the First World War. He was killed by a shell on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.