doctor douglas hyde interpretative centre

Dr. Douglas Hyde was born in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon on 17th January 1860. The family moved to Portahard when his father, Rev. Arthur Hyde, (1819-1905) was appointed rector here in 1867.

Here, as a privileged Anglo-Irish youth, Douglas enjoyed the country life, fishing, hunting and helping out on the farm. From the age of seventeen he began to write prose, poetry and plays in Irish and English. Fearing the imminent demise of the Irish Language and loss of its wealth of oral folktales and songs he began collecting this material which he later published in his popular bilingual anthologies such as "Beside the Fire" (1890) and "Love Songss of Connaught" (1893). These works were acknowleged by W.B.Yeats (1865-1939) as major sources for the Irish literary Renaissance.

Dr. D. Hyde joined with Yeats, Lady A. Gregory (152-1932), J.M. Synge (1871-1909) and others in creating an Irish theatre.

He entered Trinity College in 1880. An excellent student, he won many prizes for his academic prowess including the gold medal for Modern Literature in 1884. He graduated in 1888 with an LLD Degree.

Dr. Hyde married Lucy Kurtz, a German, in 1893 and they had two daughters, Nuala and Una. Also in 1893, he was one of the seven co-founders of the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) and was elected as its first president, a post he held until 1915.

His work in reviving the irish language and his contribution to the formation of the modern Irish identity was symbolically acknowledged by Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament) when he was unanimously selected as first President of Ireland in 1938.