François Blanchet

Who was François Blanchet?

François Blanchet was a physician, businessman, seigneur and political figure in Lower Canada.

He was born in Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud in 1776 and studied at the Petit Séminaire of Quebec. He went on to study medicine with James Fisher and then at Columbia College where he received a Bachelor of Medicine. In 1801, he returned to Lower Canada and passed an exam to allow him to practice as a physician and surgeon. He married Catherine-Henriette, the daughter of seigneur Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay, in 1802 and set up practice in Quebec City. He was named as a surgeon for the militia in 1805. In 1806, he was one of the founders of Le Canadien; because this newspaper was often critical of the authorities, Blanchet was removed from his post in the militia in 1808.

In 1809, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Hertford County. Governor James Henry Craig jailed him for sedition in 1810. However, Blanchet was reelected in that year and continued to hold a seat in the assembly until he was defeated in March 1816; Blanchet was reelected in a subsequent by-election and served until his death in Quebec City in 1830.