Douglas Hyde

Douglas Hyde (or Dubhghlas de hÍde, born January 17, 1860, died July 12, 1949http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041691/Douglas-Hyde Retrieved on 10 October 2007) was the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945. He founded the Conradh na Gaeilge, one of the most influential cultural organisations in Ireland. He promoted use of the Irish language and used the Irish spelling of his name and the pseudonym "An Craoibhin Aoibhinn"

 Background 

Hyde was born at Longford House in Castlerea, in County Roscommon, while his mother was on a short visit there. His father, Arthur Hyde, was a Church of Ireland rector.  He became fascinated with hearing the old people in the locality speak the Irish language. At the time, Irish was looked down on, seen as backward and old-fashioned.

He founded the Conradh na Gaeilge (English: "Gaelic League") in the hope of saving it from extinction in 1893.

 Conradh na Gaeilge 

The league was set up to encourage Irish culture, music, dances, and language. Many of the new generation of Irish leaders who played a central role in the fight for Irish independence in the early 20th century, including Patrick Pearse, Éamon de Valera (who married his Irish teacher Sinéad Flanagan), Michael Collins, and Ernest Blythe first became passionate about Irish independence through their involvement in the league.

Hyde himself was uncomfortable at the league becoming political, instead of cultural. and resigned as its president in 1915. He was replaced by the radical political activist and Irish-language teacher Patrick Pearse (1879-1916), who led the Easter Rising, and his election showed that the league had been infiltrated by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, just like the Irish Volunteers and the Gaelic Athletic Association

 Senator 

Hyde had no association with Sinn Féin or the independence movement, but he accepted an appointment to the Irish Senate, part of the Irish Free State parliament.

In November 1925, he lost the election to the Senate because of lies about his support for divorce (he actually opposed it) and his Protestantism.

He became Professor of Irish at University College Dublin, where one of his students was future Attorney-General and President of Ireland, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh.

 President of Ireland 

In April 1938, he was retired, but Taoiseach Éamon de Valera appointed him to Seanad Éireann. He was not a Senator for very long, because he was chosen to be first President of Ireland.

 Both the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera and the Leader of the Opposition, W. T. Cosgrave were admirers;
 Both wanted to apologise for the lies others told about him in 1925; 
 Both wanted someone who would show that the new president would not be a dictator in Ireland, as many feared any when the new constitution was being discussed in 1937;
 Both wanted to pay tribute to Hyde's role in the leage of achieving Irish independence.
 Both wanted to choose a non-Catholic to show that the new Ireland was a not ruled by the Catholic Church.Critics accused de Valera of introducing a "Catholic constitution" that discriminated against non-Catholics. In fact his constitution gave Catholicism a technically meaningless "special position" while recognising the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church and others, including Irish Jews.This recognition and the failure of de Valera to make Roman Catholicism in Ireland the "established church" (akin to the Church of England in England) infuriated right-wing Catholic groups, such as Maria Duce, specifically those who had hounded Hyde in 1925. Even de Valera's controversial ban on divorce was publicly applauded by the Church of Ireland hierarchy.

Hyde was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland in June 1938 and moved into the old "Vice Regal Lodge", the old home of the British Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. The lodge was also used by Governors General of the Irish Free State. Hyde renamed it Áras an Uachtaráin (English: "House of the President").

Hyde said the Presidential oath of office in Irish. The recording of his Roscommon dialect is one of the few recordings of the dialect, which has now died out.

Hyde was a popular president. United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt called him a "fine and scholarly old gentleman". President Hyde and United Kingdom King George VI corresponded about stamp collecting (George VI was legally King of Ireland until 1 April 1949 The Republic of Ireland Act, 1948 Act number 22/1948 of 21 December 1948).

However, in April 1940, Hyde suffered a massive stroke. Plans were made for his lying-in-state and state funeral, but to the surprise of everyone, he survived though he was paralysed and had to use a wheelchair.

Although the role of President of Ireland is largely ceremonial, Hyde had a number of important decisions to make during his presidency.

He was confronted with a crisis in 1944 when de Valera's government collapsed after a vote on the Transport Bill, and Hyde had to decide whether or not to grant an election to de Valera.Under the Constitution the order new elections Dáil Éireann". But this leaves four to six weeks, before the new Dáil assembles, and there were fears that German might invade. The General Elections (Emergency Powers) Act 1943   - which allowed an election to be called separate from a dissolution, with the Dáil only being dissolved just before new Dáil would assemble, so ensuring the gap between Dála (plural of Dáil) would be too short to facilitate an invasion. 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 had that option, but after considering it with his senior advisor, Michael McDunphy, he opted to grant de Valera his election request. (He granted the election.)

On the first occasion, the court held that the Bill referred, Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill, 1940, was constitutional.Re Article 26 of the Constitution and the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill, 1940 [1940] IR 470.

The second reference, the court decided that the particular provision referred, Section 4 of the School Attendance Bill, 1942, was "repugnant to the Constitution",Re Article 26 of the Constitution and the School Attendance Bill, 1942 [1943] IR 334. and he told the Dáil Éireann that he was refusing to sign it.

 Retirement and death 

Hyde left office on 25 June 1945. Hs ill health ,ade him not return to his Roscommon home of Ratra. Instead, he was moved into the former Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant's residence in the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin, which he renamed Little Ratra and where he lived out the remaining four years of his life. He died there at 10 p.m. on 12 July 1949, aged 89.

 State funeral 
As a former President, of Ireland he was given a state funeral. As an Anglican his funeral service took place in Dublin's Church of Ireland St. Patrick's Cathedral, but the Catholic Church did not let Roman Catholics attend services in Anglican churches. As a result, all but one member of the Catholic cabinet, Dr. Noel Browne, remained outside the cathedral while Hyde's funeral took place. They then joined the cortège when his coffin left the cathedral. Éamon de Valera, by now Leader of the Opposition, was represented by a senior Fianna Fáil figure who was a member of the Church of Ireland, Erskine Childers, a future President of Ireland himself. Hyde was buried in County Roscommon, where he had spent most of his childhood life.

 Footnotes 

 Other websites 
 Oireachtas Members Database - Profile 

Category:1860 births
Category:1949 deaths
Category:Presidents of Ireland
Category:Politics of Ireland
Category:Members of Seanad Éireann