| Thomas William Hazen Rolleston | |
| Birth Date: | 1 May 1857 |
| Death Date: | 5 December 1920 |
| Occupation: | Poet, writer |
Thomas William Hazen Rolleston (1 May 1857 – 5 December 1920)[1] was an Irish writer, literary figure and translator, known as a poet but publishing over a wide range of literary and political topics. He lived at various times in Killiney in County Dublin, the German Empire, London and County Wicklow; settling finally in 1908 in Hampstead, London, where he died. His Killiney home, called Secrora, subsequently became the home of tennis player Joshua Pim.
Rolleston was born in Glasshouse, Shinrone, County Offaly, the son of a judge. He was educated at St Columba's College, Dublin and Trinity College, Dublin.He also played guitar.
After a time in the German Empire he founded the Dublin University Review in 1885; he published Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland (1888), and a Life of Lessing (1889). As the first managing director of the Irish Industries' Society, he helped preserve from extinction many Irish handicrafts, such as lacemaking, handmade tweeds, and glassmaking.[2] In London in the 1890s he was one of the Rhymers' Club and a founder-member of the Irish Literary Society. He was to cross paths several times, and sometimes to clash, with W. B. Yeats, who described Rolleston in his memoirs as an "intimate enemy".[3] He was also involved in Douglas Hyde's Gaelic League. He corresponded with the American poet Walt Whitman and, while living in Germany, sought to translate Whitman's Leaves of Grass into German and have it published there.
He also spent time as a journalist, and as a civil servant involved with agriculture.
He had eight children, from two marriages. His first marriage was to Edith de Burgh (1859–1896), daughter of W. de Burgh, and his second, in 1897, was to Maud Brooke, daughter of Stopford Brooke.[4]
Approximately 168 books are associated with Rolleston, some as writer or editor. These are the more prominent works; publication dates listed if known.