Article

Josué Dubois Berthelot de Beaucours

Published Online January 21, 2008

Last Edited December 14, 2013

Josué Dubois Berthelot de Beaucours, military officer, engineer, governor of Trois-Rivières and Montréal (b in France c 1662; d at Montréal 9 May 1750).

Beaucours, Josué Dubois Berthelot de

Josué Dubois Berthelot de Beaucours, military officer, engineer, governor of Trois-Rivières and Montréal (b in France c 1662; d at Montréal 9 May 1750). Beaucours came to New France 1688 as an infantry officer but is far better known for his work in FORTIFICATIONS: at Trois-Rivières (1690-91), Québec (1692-93, 1710-11 and 1713-14), Chambly (1709-11), Montréal (1702 and 1707-09) and LOUISBOURG (1715-16).

Strongly supported by colonial governors and administrators for his practicality, he was less well regarded at Versailles for the technical quality of his work, which remains a subject of debate. His appointments as chief engineer for Canada (1712-14) and Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island)(1715-16) were brief, but after 1716 he slowly climbed the administrative ladder, becoming governor of Trois-Rivières in 1730 and of Montréal in 1733. He retired from the latter post in 1748.