Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Langevin, Hector Louis
LANGEVIN, Sir HECTOR LOUIS (1826–1906), Canadian statesman, born at Quebec on 25 August 1826, was son of Lieut.-colonel Jean Langevin, a Quebec merchant, of Anjou stock, who had served as assistant and secretary to Lord Gosfoid, governor-general of Canada, and had been for a time corresponding clerk of crown lands. His mother was Sophie Scholastique, daughter of Major La Force, who had distinguished himself in the defence of Canada in 1812-14. Langevin received his education at the Seminary of Quebec (1836–46) and studied law at Montreal. Entering the office there of (Sir) George Etienne Cartier [q. v.], he identified himself with Cartier's conservative political principles and was very intimately associated with him in public life. He found time for journalism in the early course of his legal career and edited successively at Montreal 'Mélanges Religieux' (from 1847) and the 'Journal of Agriculture.' Langevin was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1850. Settling in Quebec, he became editor in 1857 of the 'Courrier du Canada.' He was elected to the Quebec city council in the same year and was mayor of Quebec from 1858 to 1860. He entered political life in 1857, when he was elected member for Dorchester in the legislative assembly of Canada. He held the seat till 1867. In 1864, when he was made Q.C., he was admitted to the Taché-Macdonald conservative ministry as solicitor-general for Lower Canada. In 1866 he was promoted to be postmaster-general and remained in office till the Confederation Act was passed. Langevin played an active part in the negotiations which led to the formation of the Dominion of Canada. On the passing of the Act of Confederation in 1867, when he was sworn a privy councillor of Canada, he became a member of the Dominion House of Commons, and sat there till 1896. He represented his old constituency of Dorchester until 1874, and Three Rivers from 1878 to 1896. In Sir John Macdonald's first Dominion administration he filled the office of secretary of state (1867-9), and was minister of public works (1869-73). He was postmaster-general on Macdonald's return to power in 1878, and from 1879 to 1891 resumed the ministry of public works. His resignation of that post in 1891 followed charges of corruption against his department. He was exonerated from blame save as to negligence. In 1873 he had succeeded Sir George Etienne Cartier [q. v.] as leader of the French-Canadian conservative party. He owed his political influence to his consistent support of the ultramontane forces in the church. In 1870 Pope Pius IX created him Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory. He was appointed C.B. in 1868 and K.C.M.G. in 1881. He was made LL.D. of Laval University in 1882.
Langevin died in Quebec on 11 June 1906, and was buried in the church of the Hotel Dieu du Precieux Sang.
He married on 10 Jan. 1854 Marie Justine (d. 1882), eldest daughter of Lieut.-colonel Charles H. Tétu of Quebec; of nine children only two daughters survive (1912).
[The Times, 12-13 June 1906; Debrett's Peerage; Rose, Cycl. of Canadian Biography, 1888.]