KAIN, WILLIAM, labourer and convicted murderer; b. 24 Nov. 1809
on the island of St Vincent; d. 6 Sept. 1830 in Kingston, Upper
Canada. The details of William Kain’s life can be found in a
short biography published just after his execution for murder.
When he was three years old, he emigrated from St Vincent to
Kingston with his hard-drinking father, who was serving in the
70th Foot; his mother, reportedly either French or West Indian,
did not accompany them. In Kingston, William was educated at the
regimental school until the age of 14, when his father was
discharged. Of necessity, he went to work and was soon in
constant demand for his great strength and skill at hunting,
fishing, farming, and lumbering; he performed “miraculous feats,
in chopping and clearing.” Intelligent and articulate, he was
also an ardent reader of the Bible and was instrumental in the
building and running of his neighbourhood’s Sunday school. Yet
he sparked fear and dislike as well as respect in his community,
for he suffered a funda