author
Henri Béland
1869–1935
A Quebec physician who moved from medical practice into public life, he built a long career in municipal, provincial, and federal politics. His life also took a dramatic turn during the First World War, when he served as a doctor in Belgium and was briefly held by German forces.
2 Audiobooks
My Three Years in a German Prison
by Henri Béland
Mille et un jours en prison à Berlin
by Henri Béland
About the author
Trained in medicine at Université Laval, Henri Sévérin Béland was born in Louiseville, Quebec, on October 11, 1869. He practiced first in New Hampshire and later in Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, where his work as a doctor helped establish his reputation in the community.
Public service soon became a major part of his life. He served as mayor of Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce, represented Beauce in Quebec's Legislative Assembly, and then spent more than two decades in the House of Commons as a Liberal member before being appointed to the Senate of Canada.
During the First World War, Béland went to Belgium as a physician and was captured for a time by German authorities, an episode that brought wider attention to his career. He died on April 22, 1935, remembered as a figure who moved between medicine and politics with unusual range.