Antony Beraud
French, 1791 – 1860
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Antony Béraud, real name Antoine-Nicolas Béraud, was a French military, chansonnier, writer, poet, historian and playwright.
In 1809 he entered the École militaire de Saint-Cyr and became second lieutenant. He was then sent to garrison at Milan and took part to the last campaigns of the Empire. Captain, he was captured at the battle of the Mincio River on 8 February 1814. Captain of staff during the Hundred Days, he served at Grenoble then participated to the battle of Waterloo and battle of Ligny where he gained the rank of battalion chief.
Dismissed, degraded and put on half pay under Louis XVIII, he then embarked on literature and collaborated to numerous magazines : Revue et gazette des théâtres, La Minerve, L'Abeille, L'Indépendant, La Boussole politique, La Pandore, Le Siècle, Les Salons de Paris, les Annales de l'école française et des beaux-arts etc.
His poems and songs directed against the Bourbon earned him six months' imprisonment. He was particularly active in the Trois Glorieuses, was awarded the croix de juillet and was returned his Légion d'honneur. He was also reinstated as battalion commander of the National Guard of Paris, a position he would leave in 1834.
In 1832 he was awarded a medal of the city of Paris for his bravery during the cholera epidemic.
Managing director of the Théâtre Saint-Marcel (1839), then of the Théâtre de l'Ambigu (1840-1849), in 1849 he became director of the prison of Belle-Isle en mer (1849-1850).
His plays were performed on the most important Parisian stages, including: Théâtre de l'Ambigu, Théâtre de la Gaîté, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, and Théâtre de l'Odéon.
