John Redpath Dougall was born on August 17, 1841, in Montreal, Quebec.

He was a journalist, editor, and publisher. He was educated at Montreal High School and McGill University (B.A, 1860 and M.A., 1867). In 1870, he became editor-in-chief of the Montreal Witness, a paper founded by his father John Dougall (1808-1886) and dedicated to the temperance cause and the betterment of conditions of the masses. As a young reporter, he interviewed Abraham Lincoln at the White House in Washington during the Civil War of the United States. In 1871, he was in Paris when the victorious German troops arrived after the Franco-Prussian War. He stayed in this position for sixty-three years. He also published Northern Messenger and World Wide. He was known for his fairness, courtesy, and militant independence that added dignity to the journalistic profession. In 1921, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from McGill University.

He died on September 18, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec.