Henri Sévérin Béland, PC

Queen's Privy Council for Canada

The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...

 (October 11, 1869 – April 22, 1935) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 parliamentarian

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Born in Rivière-du-Loup-en-Haut, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 (now Louiseville

Louiseville, Quebec

Louiseville is a town in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. It is located near the mouth of the Wolf River on the north shore of Lac Saint-Pierre....

), the son of Henri Béland and Sophie Lesage, he studied medicine at Université Laval

Université Laval

Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...

. He practiced medicine in New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 before moving to Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec

Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec

Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce is a city in the Municipalité régionale de comté Robert-Cliche in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population is 4,490 as of 2009....

. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he was a doctor in Belgium

Belgium

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 and held by the Germans as a prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 for three years.

From 1897 to 1899, he was the mayor of Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce

Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, Quebec

Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce is a city in the Municipalité régionale de comté Robert-Cliche in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the population is 4,490 as of 2009....

. In 1897

Quebec general election, 1897

The Quebec general election of 1897 was held on May 11, 1897 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by Félix-Gabriel Marchand, defeated the incumbent Quebec Conservative Party, led by Edmund James Flynn.This marked the start of...

, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec

National Assembly of Quebec

The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...

 as a Liberal in the riding of Beauce

Beauce (provincial electoral district)

Beauce is a provincial electoral district in the province of Quebec, Canada Situated in the Chaudiere-Appalaches and Estrie regions, the that district existed from 1867 to after the 1970 elections when it was split into two new ridings: Beauce-Nord and Beauce-Sud.-Members of Legislative Assembly:*...

. He was acclaimed in 1900

Quebec general election, 1900

The Quebec general election of 1900 was held on December 7, 1900 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada...

. He resigned in 1902 to run federally. In a 1902 by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

, he was acclaimed as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 Member of Parliament

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 in the riding of Beauce

Beauce (electoral district)

Beauce is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1867. In 2006, it had a population of 103,617 people, of whom 82,123 were eligible voters.-Geography:...

. He was re-elected in 1904

Canadian federal election, 1904

The Canadian federal election of 1904 was held on November 3 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Canada...

 and 1908

Canadian federal election, 1908

The Canadian federal election of 1908 was held on October 26 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 11th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in government with a majority government...

. His seat became vacant from August 9, 1911 when he was appointed Postmaster General in the cabinet of Wilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....

, a position he occupied until October 9, 1911, and that entitled him to use the title "The Honourable

The Honourable

The prefix The Honourable or The Honorable is a style used before the names of certain classes of persons. It is considered an honorific styling.-International diplomacy:...

" for the rest of his life. He was defeated in 1911 in the riding of Montmagny

Montmagny (electoral district)

Montmagny was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1935.This riding was created by the British North America Act of 1867. It consisted iniitally of the County of Montmagny...

 and was re-elected in Beauce. He was acclaimed in 1917

Canadian federal election, 1917

The 1917 Canadian federal election was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription...

 and re-elected in 1921

Canadian federal election, 1921

The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...

. In 1921, he was appointed Minister of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment and Minister presiding over the Department of Health. He was re-elected in a by-election in 1922. He served in William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...

's cabinet until 1926.

In 1925, he was appointed to the Senate

Canadian Senate

The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...

 representing the senatorial division of Lauzon, Quebec

Lauzon, Quebec

Lauzon is a former city in southern Quebec, Canada, located on the St. Lawrence River northeast of Lévis. Founded in 1910, Lauzon had a population of about 14,500 when it merged with Lévis in 1989...

. He died in office in 1935.

Henri-Béland Avenue in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 is named in his honour.

External links

• Biography at the official National Assembly of Quebec
  National Assembly of Quebec
  The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
  
   website