[From Manx Quarterly, #11 Oct 1912]

A NOTABLE MANXMAN.

The following will interest the many friends and admirers of Prof. H. H. Hay, of Philadelphia, who, with Mrs Hanby Hay, visited the Island in July:-

From "Successful Americans of our Day."

HENRY HANBY HAY,

Teacher, Lecturer, Poet,

Was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, Oct. 26th, 1848, son of John and Sarah Ann (Hanby) Hay. He was educated in Glen Lyon House, Douglas, and was prepared for college, but never entered. He has long resided in Philadelphia, where he has been engaged in educational and literary work. He has done much in literary criticism, and has written on Shakespearean subjects, but is best known as a poet; and of his poems two volumes, " Created Gold," and "Trumpets and Shawms," have been published. The latter work contained an appreciative introduction from the pen of his country man, Hall Caine. In 1898, at a great banquet given in Baltimore under the auspices of the National Society of Codonial Wars, Mr Hay read an ode entitled " The Birth of Maryland." His play, " The Flight of the Duchess," was produced at the South Broad-street Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1902. By request he wrote for the Britons of Philadelphia an ode for the Diamond Jubilee, which received the thanks of Queen Victoria; another ode received the thanks of the King of Italy; and odes on Shakespeare and Girard, written for public occasions, have received much praise; and his "Civic Ode," on the opening of Founders' Week, 1908, was delivered in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, to a great audience. In 1909, Mr Hay visited the great but maligned State of Texas as the guest of the well-known rancher Mr Luke Wilson. The only condition made by the visitor was that he was to tell the truth as he saw it. During this tour he travelled 1,600 miles, visited sixteen of the principal cities, and met most of the leading jurists and the most prominent men of Texas. The result of this visit was embodied in newspaper and magazine articles, and also in a striking poem called " Texas," a framed copy of which now hangs on the walls of the historic Alamo. In 1910 he received that honour which is the blue ribbon of poetry. He was invited by the University of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society to read a poem before that distinguished body. This poem, entitled " Lords of the Balance, Keepers of the Keys," brought him letters of congratulation from all parts of the world. Among Mr Hay's Lte literary activities have been a Washington play acted by the senior class of Guard Coillege, and an Elizabethan tragedy entitled " The Fanatic," written -it the request of Robert Mantell. He has also written a monograph on William Shakespeare, and prepared another for the English societies on the late King Edward of England. It is understood that a volume of Mr Hay's odes, poems, and essays will soon appear. He is also well-known as a lecturer and after-dinner speaker, and was editor of the " Household Magazine." Mr Hay is a member and vice-president of the Browning Society of Philadelphia. He is Episcopalian in religious connections, and is a member of the St George Society, the Jewish Literary Society, and the Mermaid Club, also the New Castle Club and the Church Club of Delaware. He was also founder of " The Club," an organisation for special literary work, composed of leading literary men of Philadelphia. Mr Hay married in New Castle, Del., April 2nd 1898, Sophia Booth Rodney.