Our Buildings Tell a Story: The Stratford gaol and the grim reaper

Jail sketch by Megan Skelton.

When Perth County separated from the Huron District in 1853, one of the conditions was that it build a land registry office, courthouse and gaol in Stratford, the county seat. The first courthouse and gaol (jail) were on Elizabeth Street, at Hamilton Street, with the courthouse facing William Street. Within several years, it was obvious the jail was not adequate; it was too small and poorly ventilated. After years of debate, the decision was made to build anew. The preferred site for the first jail in the newly created City of Stratford was at 30 St. Andrew St. It was built in 1886 and is still serving. 

It was designed by London architect George F. Durand, who was also the architect for the courthouse, Gallery Stratford and the city's first general hospital. Both the courthouse and the jail were designed in the Queen Anne Revival Style. Features of that style include the use of different textures and colours, different-sized windows, features borrowed from other styles, and the use of decorative chimneys that were not always functional.

Hugh Nichol, nicknamed “The Grim Reaper,” was the city's head jailer (or warden or governor or gaoler) for many years. In his highland kilt, he was a very imposing and well-known figure in Stratford outside of his life as the jailer.

Twice married, he had at least one child with his first wife, Mary Jane McDonald, whom he married in 1868. He had at least seven children with his second wife, Mary McDermid, whom he married in 1876. He moved with his family to reside in the jail when the new facility was built on St. Andrew Street, and worked there until he died in 1921, at age 79.

In his early days, he served during the Fenian Raids in 1866 and was a lieutenant in the Perth Regiment. He also had a passion as an amateur archaeologist and collector of native artifacts, collecting from all over the continent at the turn of the century. The Nichol collection at the Stratford Perth Museum includes milestones, tools, pipes, needles, scrapers, tokens and fossils.  

There have been three hangings at the St. Andrew Street jail. The first followed a sensational trial of Amédée Chattelle in 1895. He was convicted of murdering 14-year-old Jessie Keith in 1895 and sentenced to death. The second was Frank Roughmond who was convicted of the rape of a farm wife, Mary Peake, and hanged in 1909. The third and last hanging was in 1954 when Reuben Norman was found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of his former girlfriend.

In 2010, workers who were upgrading the prison foundations in the jail yard discovered the bones of two executed prisoners. In the picture, Chief Turnkey H. D. Nichol points to the two graves in the Perth County jail yard. Amédée Chattelle is buried in the grave on Mr. Nichol’s left. On Mr. Nichol’s right is the grave of Frank Roughmond. About 20 feet from this grave is the spot where the scaffold was built. The remains of both were reinterred in unmarked graves in Avondale Cemetery. At the time of the Chattelle hanging, Mr. Nichol’s great-uncle, Hugh Nichol, was the jail governor. 

This story is taken from the Streets of Stratford. For more about our buildings and their stories see www.streetsofstratford.ca.