{{Short description|American linguist, poet, critic, and fencer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Charles Augustus de Kay | image = Charles Augustus de Kay.png | image_size = | birth_date = July 25, 1848<ref name=US_Fencing_HOF>[http://usfencinghalloffame.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=52 "Brief Biography of Charles deKay"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717175807/http://usfencinghalloffame.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=52 |date=July 17, 2011 }}, ''United States Fencing Hall of Fame website''. Retrieved on December 02, 2010.</ref> | death_date = {{death-date and age|May 23, 1935|July 25, 1848}}<ref name=US_Fencing_HOF/> | birth_place = Washington, D.C., US | death_place = New York City, US<ref name=US_Fencing_HOF/> | death_cause = | spouse = Edwardlyn Coffey<ref name=US_Fencing_HOF/> | children = 8 | education = | alma_mater = Yale<ref name=US_Fencing_HOF/> | employer = The New York Times | resting_place = | occupation = | signature = Signature of Charles Augustus de Kay.png }}

'''Charles Augustus de Kay''' (July 25, 1848 – May 23, 1935) was a linguist, poet, critic, and fencer. He was a son of George Coleman De Kay, a naval officer.<ref name=appletons/>

He graduated from Yale College in 1868.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1894-06-27 |title=NEW CONSUL GENERAL AT BERLIN.; Charles de Kay of This City Appointed by the President -- Other Nominations. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1894/06/27/archives/new-consul-general-at-berlin-charles-de-kay-of-this-city-appointed.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

He was best known for founding the National Sculpture Society, the Authors' Club, the National Arts Club and the Fencers Club.<ref name="US_Fencing_HOF" /><ref name=":0" /> He was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame in 2008. He was an art and literary critic for ''The New York Times'' for 18 years. He was a co-founder of the Circle of Friends of the Medallion.<ref name="Homren">Homren, Wayne (editor). [https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v05n43a04.html "Numismatic Writer Charles De Kay"], ''The E-Sylum'', volume 5, number 43, October 27, 2002, Article 4. Retrieved August 29, 2021.</ref>

He also wrote under the pseudonyms "Henry Eckford"<ref name=Homren/> and "Louis Barnaval".<ref name=Marquis>[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinamerica02marq/page/58/mode/2up Barnaval, Louis], in ''Who's Who in America'', 1901-1902 edition; p. 58; via archive.org</ref>

In June 1894, he was nominated by Grover Cleveland to be Consul General at Berlin<ref name=":0" /> and took over the post shortly thereafter.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1894-08-31 |title=CHARLES DE KAY THEIR GUEST; DINNER GIVEN TO THE CONSUL GENERAL TO BERLIN. Members of The Fencers' Club, The Authors' Club, The Sculpture Society, and Other Personal Friends Bid the New Official Farewell -- Repast Served in True German Style in Liederkranz Hall -- German Con- sul and Others Make Speeches. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1894/08/31/archives/charles-de-kay-their-guest-dinner-given-to-the-consul-general-to.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In keeping with his lifelong love of fencing, he had the honor of opening the fencing club in Berlin while serving as Consul General.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1896-01-26 |title=BERLIN HAS A FENCING CLUB.; Charles de Kay and Lord Granville Do the Honors at the Opening. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1896/01/26/archives/berlin-has-a-fencing-club-charles-de-kay-and-lord-granville-do-the.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

He was buried in Saint George's Church Cemetery, Hempstead, New York.

==Writing== *''The Bohemian'' (New York, 1878)<ref>{{Cite news |date=1879-01-06 |title=A NEW STORY.; THE BOHEMIAN, A Tragedy of Modern Life. By CHARLES DE KAY. New-York; CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1879/01/06/archives/a-new-story-the-bohemian-a-tragedy-of-modern-life-by-charles-de-kay.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> *''Hesperus'' (1880) *''Vision of Nimrod'' (1881) *''Vision of Esther'' (1882) *''Love Poems of Louis Barnaval'' (1883). *''Bird Gods,'' with an accompaniment of decorations by George Wharton Edwards. New York : A.S. Barnes (1898).<ref name=DeKay1898>De Kay 1898: {{OCLC|1065202268|show=all}} (see also: {{OCLC|1087093329|show=all}} etc.); [https://archive.org/details/birdgods00dekaiala digital copy] at Internet Archive; [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=genpub;idno=1277281.0001.001 digital copy] at University of Michigan.</ref> *''Life and Works of Barye''<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1935-05-24 |title=CHARLES DE'KAY, 8.6, POET, CRITIC, DEAD; Prominent in Literary, Art and Social Circles Many Years-Former Envoy to Berlin. A LINGUIST AND A FENCER Editor and Writer With The Times 1876-94 Member of a Distinguished Family. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/05/24/archives/charles-dekay-86-poet-critic-dead-prominent-in-literary-art-and.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> *''Life and Works of Louis Comfort Tiffany''<ref name=":1" /> According to ''Appletons' Cyclopædia'' (1900), his best-known story is "Manmatha".<ref name=appletons>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=De Kay, James Ellsworth|year=1900}}</ref>

==See also==

*List of USFA Hall of Fame members

==References== {{wikisource|works=or}} {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Gutenberg author | id=35309}} *{{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles Augustus DeKay}} / {{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles De Kay |sopt=t}} *{{Librivox author |id=6809}} *[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/88550/rec/13 Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall: an artist's country estate], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on DeKay

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dekay, Charles}} Category:1848 births Category:1935 deaths Category:American male fencers Category:The New York Times journalists Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C. Category:Yale College alumni Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Category:American art critics