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Henry Grattan Doyle was an American academic of Spanish literature and expert on Latin American affairs.

Early life and education
Doyle was born in Somerville, Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University.

Doyle later received an LL.D. from George Washington University, and a Litt.D. from Middlebury College.

Career
Following his graduation, Doyle began working as an instructor of romance languages at Harvard. He later became a lecturer of French philology at John Hopkins University.

Doyle served as dean of George Washington University's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. Following his retirement, he served as Emeritus Professor of Romance Languages.

In 1942, Doyle was named director of the American Council of Learned Societies's newly-created Inter-American Training Center in Washington. He was granted a year of absence from GWU to lead the project.

In 1946, Doyle toured Latin America as chairman of the American Council on Education's grants committee, visiting Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. While there, he noted an increase in students taking English classes and the spread of mixed-sex education in the region.

Doyle served on an advisory committee to Harvard's Department of Romance Languages, to which he was reappointed for a fourth term in 1954.

Doyle was active as a consultant to the Agency for International Development.

Writing
Doyle served on the editorial boards of several journals, including:
 * The Modern Language Journal
 * Hispania
 * The Americas

Memberships
In November 1921, Doyle was elected secretary-treasurer of the Association of Modern Language Teachers of the Middle States and Maryland.

Doyle served as grand secretary of the Pi Delta Epsilon honor society between 1929 and 1932, before serving as its grand president until 1937. In that year, he welcomed the former fraternity's decision to allow women to join, calling it the "most forward-looking step taken by the fraternity since its organization".

In December 1930, he spoke at a meeting of the International Auxiliary Language Association.

In 1931, Doyle was elected to lead a group of junior college heads within the Washington area.

During 1934, Doyle served as secretary of the Harvard Club of Washington DC's scholarship committee.

In 1939, Doyle served as a delegate to Georgetown University's sesquicentennial convocation, representing the American Association of Teachers of Italian, American Association of Teachers of Spanish, Eastern Association of Deans and Advisers of Men, Middle Atlantic States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, Modern Language Association of America, and the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers. His wife also attended as a representative of Radcliffe College.

Doyle was a member of the Cosmos Club, delivering a talk at its 65th anniversary dinner in 1943.

In 1943, Doyle served as a member of the advisory board for the Club de las Americas, which was founded to promote interest in Spanish and Portuguese.

In December 1946, Doyle was appointed to the Committee on Institutions of High Education by the Middle Atlantic States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

In 1957, Doyle was chosen to be the first president of the United States–Argentine Society by Eduardo Augusto Garcia, Argentine ambassador to the Organization of American States.

Other activities
During the 1940s, Doyle served as a judge for two Miss America contests and judged the 1948 George Washington University homecoming contest.

Education theory
Doyle was opposed to some of the progressive educational theories of the twentieth century. In a 1949 talk to the Modern Language Association, Doyle criticised "life‐adjustment education" which he called "a school of thought that seems to believe that the teacher's job is not the inculcation of history or algebra, but preparing students to live happily ever after".

Doyle was one of the first educators to use recordings in the teaching of foreign languages. He released an early set of Spanish instruction records through RCA Victor.

In April 1934, Doyle presented a lecture on "The Crisis in Foreign Language teaching" at the Citizens' Conference on the Crisis in Education.

In April 1950, he appeared on a panel at a Georgetown University language teaching conference.

Personal life
Doyle was married to Marion Wade Sharkey (died January 1985). She worked as a teacher and took part in education and feminist activism, serving as executive vice-president of the League of Women Voters and heading the White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1960. She was also an outspoken opponent of segregation in schools and supported the idea that children should be educated on Communism in the 1930s. They had three children together:
 * Marion Wade Doyle – studied at Radcliffe College. Worked as a reporter for the The Washington Star. Married Charles E. Campbell, director of Amerika Haus in Heidelburg, Germany.
 * Henry Grattan Doyle, Jr. – studied at Harvard College, served as assistant director of the Reserve Officers Association.
 * Robert Carr Doyle (died May 1999) – served as television executive with NBC and the National Geographic Society, winning various awards.

Doyle died in Washington on November 3, 1964. A Requiem Mass was held two days later.

Awards and recognition
Doyle was an honorary faculty member at the University of Mexico. He was also an honorary faculty member at the National University of Colombia.

In November 1938, it was announced that Doyle would be receiving the Ecuadorian National Order of Merit alongside GWU president Cloyd H. Marvin and Harvard's Inter-American Center director George Howland Cox.

In 1944, Doyle was made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, joining the philology section of the humanities class.