Faucher de Saint-Maurice

Narcisse Henri Édouard Faucher (April 18, 1844 – April 1, 1897) was a Canadian author, journalist, army officer, and politician who published books under the name Faucher de Saint-Maurice.

Life

Faucher was born in Quebec. His father, Narcisse-Constantin Faucher, was a lawyer and the seigneur of Beaumont, Vincennes, and of Montapeine. His mother was Catherine-Henriette Marcier. He was educated at the Séminaire de Québec and at the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière.

In 1864, he joined the conflict in Mexico and became a captain in the 4th Mexican sharpshooters. Afterward, he was aide-de-camp to General the Viscount Courtois Roussel d'Hurbal. He served through the war, being in 11 battles, 32 minor engagements, and at the sieges of Oaxaca and Satillo; at the latter, he was made prisoner and sentenced to be shot, but was, instead, exchanged. While in Mexico, he met Honoré Beaugrand.

He returned to Canada in 1866, and was for the next fourteen years a clerk of the legislative council of the province of Quebec. In 1874 he began putting more effort into his writing. In the 1870s, he was a member of an informal literary group known varyingly as "la société d'admiration mutuelle," "le cénacle de la rue d'Aiguillon," and "la pléiade de Saint-Maurice." This group gathered regularly at the home of Prosper Bender in Quebec City. The salon's conversations nourished the creative works of Faucher but also of Joseph Marmette and Oscar Dunn. Some of this literary output would be captured in a work published by Bender in 1881. Faucher would later reminisce fondly about these years.