Canada's First Hangman

Canada's first hangman John Radclive lived here....
Mr. Radclive at work in 1902.

In an interview with psychologist Rachel MacNair, Radclive described his internal torment:
"Now at night when I lie down," he said, "I start up with a roar as victim after victim comes up before me. I can see them on the trap, waiting a second before they meet their Maker. They haunt me and taunt me until I am nearly crazy with an unearthly fear."

Meanwhile, with the financial stability that Radclive's regular salary gave him, he was able to settle down. In 1893, he moved into a new house in Parkdale, on Sorauren Ave. north of Queen St. W., and later lived around the corner on Fern Ave.

Both are substantial brick houses: the Sorauren Ave. house was appraised at $1,835 in 1895, about two and a half times Radclive's $700 annual salary as hangman. (It sold last year for $667,000.) The Fern Ave. house, which is smaller, was valued at around $1,000. He had a mortgage on both houses.

After his death, it turned out that Fern Avenue had made its peace with its odd resident over the years. "The little children who weren't frightened of him just loved him," one neighbour told theTelegram.

He died in February 1911, at 55, of cirrhosis of the liver in the Fern Ave. house, where he lived with his mother. His wife, who had left him, was in England with two of his children.

His other two children lived in Toronto but, the Telegram explained, they "did not take any particular pride in the profession of their father."

Shortly before his death, in an interview cited by American psychologist Rachel MacNair, he had hinted at his inner demons:

"Now at night when I lie down," he said, "I start up with a roar as victim after victim comes up before me. I can see them on the trap, waiting a second before they meet their Maker. They haunt me and taunt me until I am nearly crazy with an unearthly fear."