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Honoré Beaugrand (1848-1906) was a leading figure in the politics, economy and culture of late 19th-century Quebec. For this freethinker known primarily as an anti-cleric, politics, journalism and literature were major channels for transmitting his liberal ideas.

The son of a sailor named Louis Beaugrand, dit Champagne, and Marie-Josephte Marion, Honoré Beaugrand was born in Saint-Joseph-de-Lanoraie on March 24, 1848. Shortly after his 17th birthday, he left Canada, heading first to Mexico, where he fought in the army of Emperor Maximilian. His travels then led him to France, the United States and back to Mexico.

During the 1870s, a decade spent largely in the United States, Honoré Beaugrand established himself as an increasingly radical liberal. He founded numerous newspapers with liberal, republican and patriotic leanings in the Northeastern United States and then in Canada, after returning in 1878. The most well known was La Patrie, a daily founded in 1879 that he owned and managed until 1897.

Honoré Beaugrand launched his political career when he returned to Canada. Marked by his strong liberal and progressive convictions, his political career peaked when he was elected mayor of Montreal (1885-1887). He was also a prolific author, publishing numerous essays and stories, including La Chasse-Galerie, and Other Canadian Stories. Very involved in the cultural community, Honoré Beaugrand was a member of various associations like the Alliance française, the Société des traditions populaires and the Canadian Folklore Society.

He spent the last years of his life travelling the world, trying to improve the health of his fragile lungs, but also out of cultural interest. He wrote various papers on the places he visited and published several accounts of his travels. Honoré Beaugrand died October 7, 1906, in Montreal, at the age of 58.

In 1873, Honoré Beaugrand married a young American woman named Eliza Walker. The couple moved to Montreal in 1878, living first on Sherbrooke St., then on Metcalfe in Westmount. They also owned a summer home in North Hatley, in the Eastern Townships. Eliza Walker died April 8, 1934, at the age of 80.

The Beaugrands had one child, Estelle (1881-1918), who left her family in 1915 to pursue a career as an actress in New York City. Her 1902 marriage to Arthur Vaillancourt produced three children: Marcelle (died about 1977), Renée (1905-1979) and Beaugrand (died about 1999).