View source for Douglas Hyde

{{Short description|President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945}}
{{For|the English communist journalist and campaigner who converted to Catholicism|Douglas Hyde (author)}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name          = Douglas Hyde 
| native_name   = {{nobold|Dubhghlas de hÍde}}
| image         = Douglas Hyde, circa 1940.jpg 
| caption       = Hyde {{circa}} 1940
| office        = [[President of Ireland]]
| taoiseach     = [[Éamon de Valera]]
| term_start    = 25 June 1938
| term_end      = 24 June 1945
| predecessor   = ''Office established''
| succeeded     = [[Seán T. O'Kelly]]
| office1       = [[Seanad Éireann|Senator]]
| term_start1   = 27 April 1938
| term_end1     = 4 May 1938
| constituency1 = [[Nominated members of Seanad Éireann|Nominated by the Taoiseach]]
| office2       = [[Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)|Senator]]
| term_start2   = 4 February 1925
| term_end2     = [[1925 Seanad election|17 September 1925]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1860|1|17|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Castlerea]], [[County Roscommon]], Ireland
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1949|7|12|1860|1|17|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Little Ratra]], [[Phoenix Park]], [[Dublin]], Ireland
| resting_place = Portahard Church Cemetery, [[Frenchpark]], County Roscommon, Ireland
| party         = [[Independent politician (Ireland)|Independent]]
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Lucy Kurtz]]|1893|1938|reason=d}}
| children      = 2
| alma_mater    = [[Trinity College Dublin]]
| profession    = {{Hlist|[[Academic staff|Academic]]|Irish language activist|[[politician]]|[[Linguistics|linguist]]}}
| signature     = Douglas Hyde Signature.svg
|}}
'''Douglas Ross Hyde''' {{post-nominals|LLD|MRIA}} ({{langx|ga|Dubhghlas de hÍde}}; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as {{lang|ga|'''An Craoibhín Aoibhinn'''}} ({{Translation|the pleasant little branch|literal=yes}}), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first [[president of Ireland]] from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a leading figure in the [[Gaelic revival]], and the first president of the [[Conradh na Gaeilge|Gaelic League]], one of the most influential cultural organisations in Ireland at the time.

==Background==
Hyde was born at Longford House in [[Castlerea]], [[County Roscommon]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Longford House, Longford, Castlerea, Roscommon |url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/31926002/longford-house-longford-castlerea-roscommon |website=buildingsofireland.ie|publisher=National Inventory of Architectural Heritage|language=en-IE|access-date=11 March 2023}}</ref> while his mother, Elizabeth Hyde (née Oldfield; 1834–1886), was on a short visit. His father, Arthur Hyde, whose family was originally from [[Castlehyde]] near [[Fermoy]], [[County Cork]], was [[Church of Ireland]] [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of Kilmactranny, [[County Sligo]], from 1852 to 1867, and it was here that Hyde spent his early years.<ref name=dib>{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/hyde-douglas-de-hide-dubhghlas-a4185|title=Hyde, Douglas (de hÍde, Dubhghlas)|work=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]|last=Maume|first=Patrick |access-date=26 December 2023}}</ref> Arthur Hyde and Elizabeth Oldfield married in [[County Roscommon]], in 1852, and had three other children: Arthur Hyde (1853–79 in [[County Leitrim]]), John Oldfield Hyde (1854–96 in [[County Dublin]]), and Hugh Hyde (1856).<ref>{{cite book |last=McTernan |first=John C. |title=Worthies of Sligo, Profiles of Eminent Sligonians of Other Days |year=1994 |publisher=Avena Publications |location=Sligo |isbn=0-85342-503-5}}</ref>

[[File:DouglasHydepresident.jpg|thumb|left|Hyde as a young man]]
In 1867, his father was appointed [[prebendary]] and rector of Tibohine, and the family moved to neighbouring [[Frenchpark]], in County Roscommon. He was home-schooled by his father and his aunt due to a childhood illness.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Douglas_Hyde3344120424 |title=Multitext Project in Irish History – Douglas Hyde |access-date=31 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001215611/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Douglas_Hyde3344120424 |archive-date=1 October 2011 }}</ref> While a young man, he became fascinated with hearing the old people in the locality speak the [[Irish language]]. He was influenced in particular by the gamekeeper Séamus Hart and his friend's wife, Mrs. Connolly. Aged 14, Hyde was devastated when Hart died, and his interest in the Irish language—the first language he began to study in any detail, as his own undertaking—flagged for a while. However, he visited [[Dublin]] several times and realised that there were groups of people, just like him, interested in Irish, a language looked down on at the time by many and seen as backward and old-fashioned.

Rejecting family pressure that, like past generations of Hydes, he would follow a career as an [[Anglican clergyman]], Hyde instead became an academic. He entered [[Trinity College Dublin]], where he became fluent in French, [[Latin]], German, [[Greek language|Greek]], and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], graduating in 1884 as a moderator in modern literature. A medallist of the [[College Historical Society]], he was elected its president in 1931.<ref name="Dunleavy">{{cite book |last=Dunleavy |first=Janet & Gareth |title=Douglas Hyde – A Maker of Modern Ireland |year=1991 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=0-520-06684-7}}</ref> His passion for the [[language revival]] of Irish, which was already in severe decline, led him to help found the [[Conradh na Gaeilge|Gaelic League]], or in Irish, {{lang|ga|Conradh na Gaeilge}}, in 1893.

Hyde married German-born but British-raised [[Lucy Kurtz]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poemhunter.com/douglas-hyde/biography/|title=Douglas Hyde - Douglas Hyde Biography|website=Poem Hunter|access-date=1 March 2017|archive-date=1 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301195223/https://www.poemhunter.com/douglas-hyde/biography/|url-status=live}}</ref> in 1893. The couple had two daughters, Nuala and Úna.<ref>The Trustees of FreeBMD (2005). [http://freebmd.rootsweb.com FreeBMD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903015822/https://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ |date=3 September 2021 }}. Retrieved 12 November 2005.</ref>

==Conradh na Gaeilge/Gaelic League==

{{main|Conradh na Gaeilge}}

Hyde joined the [[Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language]] around 1880, and between 1879 and 1884, he published more than a hundred pieces of Irish verse under the [[pen name]] {{lang|ga|An Craoibhín Aoibhinn}} ({{Translation|the pleasant little branch|literal=yes}}).<ref name="OCor">{{cite web |url=http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Douglas_Hyde3344120424 |title=Douglas Hyde |last=Ó Corráin |first=Donnchadh |publisher=University College Cork, Multitext Project in Irish History |access-date=10 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001215611/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Douglas_Hyde3344120424 |archive-date= 1 October 2011 }}</ref>
[[File:Portrait of Dr Douglas Hyde .PNG|thumb|Portrait of Hyde]]
Initially derided, the Irish language movement gained a mass following. Hyde helped establish the ''[[Gaelic Journal]]'' in 1892; in November, he wrote a manifesto called ''The necessity for de-anglicising the Irish nation'',<ref name="OCor"/> arguing that Ireland should follow its own traditions in language, literature, and dress.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hyde |first1=Douglas |title=The necessity for de-anglicizing the Irish nation |url=http://www.gaeilge.org/deanglicising.html |website=gaeilge.org |access-date=11 January 2017 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806042847/http://www.gaeilge.org/deanglicising.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1893, he helped found Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) to encourage the preservation of Irish culture, music, dance and language. A new generation of Irish republicans (including [[Patrick Pearse|Pádraig Pearse]], [[Éamon de Valera]], [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] and [[Ernest Blythe]]), became politicised through their involvement in Conradh na Gaeilge. Hyde filled out the 1911 census form in Irish.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000186386/ |title=Census of Ireland 1911 - de hÍde |publisher=National Archives of Ireland |access-date=8 December 2007 |archive-date=12 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512142420/http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000186386/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Uncomfortable with the growing politicisation of the movement, Hyde resigned the presidency in 1915. He was succeeded by the League's co-founder [[Eoin MacNeill]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ryan |first=John |date=December 1945 |title=Eoin Mac Neill 1867–1945 |journal=Irish Province of the Society of Jesus |volume=34 |issue=136 |pages=433–448|jstor=30100064}}, pp. 439–40</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Grote |first=Georg |title=Torn Between Politics and Culture: the Gaelic League, 1893–1993 |location=Münster |publisher=Waxman |year=1994 |page=120 |isbn=3-89325-243-6}}</ref>

==Senator==
[[File:Douglas Hyde 2.jpg|thumb|200px|Hyde, circa 1917]]
Hyde had no association with [[Sinn Féin]] and the independence movement. He was elected to [[Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)|Seanad Éireann]], the upper house of the [[Irish Free State]]'s [[Oireachtas of the Irish Free State|Oireachtas]] (parliament), at a by-election on 4 February 1925, replacing Sir [[Hutcheson Poë]].<ref name=oireachtas_db>{{cite web |url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Douglas-Hyde.S.1925-02-04/ |title=Douglas Hyde |work=Oireachtas Members Database |access-date=10 January 2013 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107225105/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Douglas-Hyde.S.1925-02-04 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[1925 Seanad election]], Hyde placed 28th of the 78 candidates, with 19 seats available. The [[Catholic Truth Society]] opposed him for his [[Protestantism]] and publicised his supposed support for divorce. Historians have suggested that the CTS campaign was ineffective,<ref name="sullivan1940">{{cite book |last=O'Sullivan |first=Donal |title=The Irish Free State and its Senate: A Study in Contemporary Politics |publisher=[[Faber & Faber]] |location=London |year=1940}}</ref> and that Irish-language advocates performed poorly, with all those endorsed by the Gaelic League losing.<ref name="sullivan1940"/><ref>{{cite journal |title=Ireland's Unique Electoral Experiment: The Senate Election of 1925 |doi=10.1080/07907180500359327 |first=John |last=Coakley |journal=Irish Political Studies |date=September 2005 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=231–269|s2cid=145175747 }}</ref>

He returned to academia as Professor of Irish at [[University College Dublin]], where one of his students was future [[Attorney General of Ireland]], [[Chief Justice of Ireland]] and [[President of Ireland]], [[Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh]].

==President of Ireland==

[[File:CBI - SERIES C - FIFTY POUND NOTE.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Hyde is notable in that he was the only leader of independent Ireland to be featured on its banknotes, here on a [[Series C Banknotes (Ireland)|Series C Banknote]] of IR£50.]]

===Nomination===
{{main|1938 Irish presidential election}}
In April 1938, by now retired from academia, Hyde was plucked from retirement by [[Taoiseach]] [[Éamon de Valera]] and again appointed to [[Seanad Éireann]]. Again his tenure proved short, even shorter than before; however, this time it was because Hyde was chosen, after inter-party negotiations—following an initial suggestion by [[Fine Gael]]—to be the first President of Ireland, to which office he was elected unopposed. He was selected for a number of reasons:

*Both the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, and the Leader of the Opposition, [[W. T. Cosgrave]], admired him.
*Both wanted a President with universal prestige to lend credibility to the new office, especially since the new 1937 Constitution [[Irish head of state from 1922 to 1949|made it unclear]] whether the President or the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|British monarch]] was the official head of state.
*Both wanted to purge the humiliation that had occurred when Hyde lost his Senate seat in 1925.
*Both wanted a President who would prove there was no danger that the holder of the office would become an authoritarian dictator, a widespread fear when the new constitution was being discussed in 1937.
*Both wanted to pay tribute to Hyde's role in promoting the Irish language.
*Both wanted to choose a non-Catholic to disprove the assertion that the State was a "[[confessional state]]", although on 11 May 1937 [[Seán MacEntee]], the Fianna Fáil Minister of Finance, had described the 1937 Constitution in [[Dáil Éireann]] as "the Constitution of a Catholic State".<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1937-05-11/29|title=Bunreacht na hEireann (Dréacht)—Dara Céim |journal=Dáil Debates|volume=67|issue=1|date=11 May 1937|publisher=Houses of the Oireachtas|access-date=17 May 2021|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517064207/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1937-05-11/29/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Inauguration===
[[File:Douglas Hyde inauguration.jpg|right|thumb|Douglas Hyde (in back of car holding top hat), leaving [[Dublin Castle]] with a cavalry escort following his inauguration.]]
Hyde was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland, on 26 June 1938. ''[[The Irish Times]]'' reported it as follows:

{{blockquote|In the morning [Dr Hyde] attended a service in [[St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|St. Patrick's Cathedral]] presided over by the [[Archbishop of Dublin]], Dr. [[John Gregg (archbishop of Armagh)|Gregg]]. Mr. de Valera and his Ministerial colleagues attended a solemn Votive Mass in the Pro-Cathedral, and there were services in the principal Presbyterian and Methodist churches, as well as in the synagogue. Dr. Hyde was installed formally in Dublin Castle, where the seals of office were handed over by the Chief Justice. Some 200 persons were present, including the heads of the Judiciary and the chief dignitaries of the Churches. After the ceremony, President Hyde drove in procession through the beflagged streets. The procession halted for two minutes outside the [[General Post Office]] to pay homage to the memory of the men who fell in the Easter Week rebellion of 1916. Large crowds lined the streets from the Castle to the Vice-Regal Lodge and the President was welcomed with bursts of cheering. He wore morning dress, but Mr. de Valera and Mr. [[Sean T. O'Kelly]], who followed Dr. Hyde in the next motor-car, wore black clothes with felt hats.

In the evening there was a ceremony in [[Dublin Castle]] which was without precedent in Irish history. Mr. and Mrs. de Valera received about 1,500 guests at a reception in honour of the President. The reception was held in St. Patrick's Hall, where the banners of the Knights of St. Patrick are still hung. The attendance included all the members of the Dáil and Senate with their ladies, members of the Judiciary and the chiefs of the Civil Service, Dr. [[Paschal Robinson]], the Papal Nuncio at the head of the Diplomatic Corps, several Roman Catholic Bishops, the [[Primate of All Ireland]], the Archbishop of Dublin, the [[Bishop of Killaloe]], the heads of the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations, the Provost and Vice Provost of Trinity College, and the President of the National University. It was the most colourful event that has been held in Dublin since the inauguration of the new order in Ireland, and the gathering, representing as it did every shade of political, religious, and social opinion in Éire [Ireland], might be regarded as a microcosm of the new Ireland.<ref>''The Irish Times'', 27 June 1938.</ref>}}

Hyde set a precedent by reciting the Presidential Declaration of Office in Irish. His recitation, in Roscommon Irish, is one of a few recordings of a dialect of which Hyde was one of the last speakers. Upon inauguration, he moved into the long-vacant Viceregal Lodge in [[Phoenix Park]], since known as [[Áras an Uachtaráin]].

Hyde's selection and inauguration received worldwide media attention and was covered by newspapers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, and even Egypt.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Brian |title=Hyde, Hitler and why our first president fascinated press around the world |url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/hyde-hitler-and-why-our-first-president-fascinated-press-around-the-world/35094635.html |work=[[Irish Independent]] |date=1 October 2016}}</ref> Hitler "ordered" the Berlin newspapers "to splash" on the Irish presidential installation ceremony.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> However, the British government ignored the event.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The Northern Ireland Finance Minister, [[J. M. Andrews]], described Hyde's inauguration as a "slight on the King" and "a deplorable tragedy".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Presidency===
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2016}}
Despite being placed in a position to shape the office of the presidency via precedent, Hyde by and large opted for a quiet, conservative interpretation of the office. His age and health obligated him to schedule periods of rest throughout his days, and his lack of political experience caused him to defer to his advisers on questions of policy and discretionary powers, especially to his Secretary, Michael McDunphy. On 13 November 1938, just months after Hyde's inauguration, Hyde attended an international soccer match between Ireland and [[Poland]] at [[Dalymount Park]] in Dublin. This was seen as breaching the [[Gaelic Athletic Association|GAA]]'s ban on 'foreign games' and he was subsequently removed as patron of the GAA, an honour he had held since 1902.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinspress.ie/the-gaa-v-douglas-hyde.html|title=The GAA v Douglas Hyde|author=Cormac Moore|publisher=Collins Press|access-date=10 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010131753/http://www.collinspress.ie/the-gaa-v-douglas-hyde.html|archive-date=10 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After a massive stroke in April 1940, plans were made for his lying-in-state and a state funeral. However, Hyde survived, albeit paralysed and having to use a wheelchair.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Douglas Hyde: The Unlikely First President of Ireland |url=https://www.ireland-information.com/articles/douglashyde.htm
|access-date=2023-05-06 |website=ireland-information.com}}</ref>

Although the role of the President of Ireland is largely ceremonial, the president has the authority under the [[Constitution of Ireland]] to refuse to grant a dissolution of the Dáil where the Taoiseach has ceased to retain the support of a majority of the Dáil. The president is also the guardian of the constitution and may refer legislation to the Supreme Court before signing it into law.

On 31 July 1943, the Irish postal service release a set of postage stamps valued at ½ and 2½ pence bearing a portrait of Hyde to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the [[Gaelic League]].<ref>{{cite book
	| title = Postage Stamps of Ireland: 70 years 1922 ~ 1992
	| date = 1992
	| publisher = [[An Post]]
	| location = Dublin
	| page = 36
	| isbn = 1-872228-13-5
}}</ref>

Hyde and the government were confronted with the challenge of how to run an election during a national emergency, as the [[10th Dáil]] was due to expire in 1943, requiring a dissolution and general election. The constitution and electoral law required the Dáil to be dissolved prior to the election campaign, with a gap of four to six weeks between the dissolution of the outgoing Dáil and the first meeting of the new Dáil. Fearing this gap might facilitate an invasion during [[World War II]], during which no parliament could be called upon to act, the government first attempted to avoid holding an election by extending the Dáil term to six years (the maximum Dáil term under the constitution is 7 years, but it was (and remains) set at 5 years in law). The government abandoned this due to lack of support from the opposition. Instead, the Oireachtas passed the [https://web.archive.org/web/20051205033004/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA11Y1943.html General Elections (Emergency Powers) Act 1943] under the emergency provisions of Article 28.3.3°. This allowed an election to be called separate from a dissolution, with the Dáil only being dissolved just before new Dáil would assemble. This ensured the gap between Dála would be too short to cause a vacuum in major decision-making. Under the Act, the President could "refuse to proclaim a general election on the advice of a Taoiseach who had ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann".

Hyde was confronted with a crisis in 1944 when de Valera's government unexpectedly collapsed in a vote on the Transport Bill. Hyde had the option to refuse to proclaim the election but, after considering it with his senior advisor Michael McDunphy, consented to it.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Hyde twice used his prerogative under Article 26 of the Constitution, having consulted the [[Council of State (Ireland)|Council of State]], to refer a Bill or part of a Bill to the Supreme Court, for the court's decision on whether the Bill or part referred is repugnant to the Constitution (so that the Bill in question cannot be signed into law).{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} On the first occasion, the court held that the Bill referred – Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill 1940 – was not repugnant to the Constitution.<ref>''Re Article 26 of the Constitution and the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill, 1940'' [1940] I.R. 470.</ref> In response to the second reference, the Court decided that the particular provision referred to – section 4 of the School Attendance Bill 1942 – was repugnant to the Constitution.<ref>''Re Article 26 of the Constitution and the School Attendance Bill, 1942'' [1943] I.R. 334.</ref> Because of Article 34.3.3° of the Constitution, the constitutional validity of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act, 1940<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1940/en/act/pub/0002/index.html|title=Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act, 1940|work=[[Irish Statute Book]]|access-date=10 January 2013|archive-date=8 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008005521/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1940/en/act/pub/0002/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> cannot be challenged in any court, since the Bill which became that Act was found by the Supreme Court not to be repugnant in the context of an Article 26 reference.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sheahan |first1=Fionnán |title=Higgins admits he's reluctant to close off legal challenges to bills by public |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/higgins-admits-hes-reluctant-to-close-off-legal-challenges-to-bills-by-public/29654178.html |access-date=27 October 2025 |work=Irish Independent |date=12 October 2013 |language=en}}</ref><ref>''Re Article 26 of the Constitution and the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill, 1940'' [1940] I.R. 470.</ref>

One of Hyde's last presidential acts was a visit to the German Ambassador [[Eduard Hempel]], on 3 May 1945, to offer his formal condolences on the [[death of Adolf Hitler]]. The visit remained a secret until 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hyde-and-de-valera-offered-condolences-on-hitlers-death-228426.html|title=Hyde (and de Valera) offered condolences on Hitler's death|work=[[Irish Independent]]|date=31 December 2005|access-date=6 November 2010|archive-date=24 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024195100/http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hyde-and-de-valera-offered-condolences-on-hitlers-death-228426.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Retirement and death==

Hyde left office on 25 June 1945, opting not to nominate himself for a second term. Owing to his ill-health he did not return to his Roscommon home, ''Ratra'', empty since the death of his wife early in his term. He moved into the former residence of the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, on the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin, which he renamed ''[[Little Ratra]]'', where he lived out the remaining four years of his life. He died at 10{{nbsp}}pm on 12 July 1949, aged 89.<ref>Announcement of death, ''The Irish Times'', 13 July 1949</ref>

==State funeral==

{{unreferenced section|date=June 2013}}
[[File:Douglas Hyde St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin 2006.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial to Douglas Hyde in [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin]] ]]

As a former President of Ireland, Hyde was accorded a [[List of Irish state funerals|state funeral]]. As he was a member of the [[Church of Ireland]], his funeral service took place in Dublin's Church of Ireland [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|St. Patrick's Cathedral]]. However, contemporary rules of the [[Roman Catholic Church in Ireland]] prohibited its members from attending services in non-Catholic churches. As a result, all but one member of the Catholic cabinet, [[Noël Browne]], remained outside the cathedral grounds while the funeral service took place. They then joined the cortège when his coffin left the cathedral. Éamon de Valera, by now [[Leader of the Opposition (Ireland)|Leader of the Opposition]], also did not attend. He was represented instead by a senior [[Fianna Fáil]] figure who was a member of the Church of Ireland, [[Erskine Hamilton Childers|Erskine H. Childers]], a future President of Ireland himself. Hyde was buried in Frenchpark, County Roscommon at Portahard Church, (where he had spent most of his childhood life) beside his wife Lucy, his daughter Nuala, his sister Annette, his mother Elizabeth, and his father Arthur.

==In memoriam==

{|class="wikitable"
!Name
!Location
!Notes
|-
|Gaelscoil de hÍde
|[[Roscommon]]
|In 2000 Gaelscoil de hÍde was set up in Roscommon town. Currently, 120 students attend the school.
|-
|Gaelscoil de hÍde
|[[Oranmore]], [[County Galway]]
|The Irish-speaking primary school was founded in 1994 in Oranmore, County Galway.
|-
|Gaelscoil de hÍde
|[[Fermoy]], [[County Cork]]
|Gaelscoil de hÍde is the only Gaelscoil in Fermoy, County Cork and currently accommodates 332 pupils.
|-
|Coláiste an Chraoibhín
|Fermoy, County Cork
|Founded in 1987, this secondary school takes its name from Hyde's pseudonym. The school overlooks the Hyde family's ancestral estate of Castlehyde. There are over 900 students in the school. 
|-
|Hyde Museum
|{{nowrap|[[Frenchpark]], [[County Roscommon]]}}
|His father's old church is now a museum dedicated to showing memorabilia about Douglas Hyde.
|-
|Coláiste de hÍde
|[[Tallaght]], Dublin
|Coláiste de hÍde, a [[Gaelcholáiste]] (all-Irish second-level school) was founded in 1993 in [[Tallaght]], [[South Dublin]] in his honour.
|-
|[[Dr. Hyde Park]]
|Roscommon
|Dr. Hyde Park is the home of [[Roscommon GAA]]. Opened in 1969 it has a capacity of 25,000. It hosts many championship matches due to Roscommon's geographical positioning.
|-
|{{nowrap|[[Douglas Hyde Gallery]]}}
|[[Dublin]]
|The Douglas Hyde Gallery is located in [[Trinity College Dublin]]. It was opened in 1978 and it is home to many contemporary art exhibitions.
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Portal|Ireland}}
*[http://www.president.ie/past_presidents/douglas-hyde/ Biography at Áras an Uachtaráin website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110721131340/http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?MemberFirstName=&MemberName=Hyde&disp=src Oireachtas Members Database – Profile]
*Dunleavy, Janet Egleson and Gareth W. Dunleavy. ''Douglas Hyde: A Maker of Modern Ireland''. Berkeley et al.: Univ. of California Press, 1991. [http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft2w1004tq;brand=eschol Available from eScholarship].
*Hyde, Douglas. ''The Love Songs of Connacht: Being the Fourth Chapter of the Songs of Connacht''. Dundrum, Ireland: Dun Emer Press, 1904. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Sfbm38dfy8C;brand=google Available from Google Books]{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.
* {{Gutenberg author | id=36019| name=Douglas Hyde}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Douglas Hyde}}
* {{Librivox author |id=14798}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/008429}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-new|office}}
{{s-ttl|title  = [[President of Ireland]]
       |years  = 1938–1945}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Seán T. O'Kelly]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy|Lord Glenavy]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = President of the [[College Historical Society|Trinity College Historical Society]]
       |years  = 1931–1949}}
{{s-aft|after  = Sir Robert W. Tate}}
{{s-end}}
{{Presidents of Ireland}}
{{Conradh na Gaeilge}}
{{Members of the 1922 Seanad}}
{{Members of the 2nd Seanad}}
{{Irish poetry}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyde, Douglas}}
[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of University College Dublin]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:20th-century Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:Celtic studies scholars]]
[[Category:Conradh na Gaeilge presidents]]
[[Category:Independent members of Seanad Éireann]]
[[Category:Irish Anglicans]]
[[Category:Irish folklorists]]
[[Category:Irish language activists]]
[[Category:Irish-language writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish poets]]
[[Category:Members of the 1922 Seanad]]
[[Category:Members of the 2nd Seanad]]
[[Category:Nominated members of Seanad Éireann]]
[[Category:Patrons of the Gaelic Athletic Association]]
[[Category:People from Castlerea]]
[[Category:Scholars and academics from County Sligo]]
[[Category:Presidents of Ireland]]
[[Category:Scholars and academics from County Roscommon]]
[[Category:People from Frenchpark]]
[[Category:20th-century presidents in Europe]]