Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/William Henry Bury

William Henry Bury

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/May 18, 2017 by Jimfbleak - talk to me?  13:42, 29 April 2017 (UTC)



William Henry Bury (25 May 1859 – 24 April 1889) was suspected of being the notorious serial killer "Jack the Ripper". He was hanged for the murder of his wife Ellen in 1889, and was the last person executed in Dundee, Scotland. Bury was orphaned at an early age and was educated at a charitable school; after a few years as a clerk, he fell into financial difficulty, was dismissed for theft, and became a street peddler. In 1887, he moved to London, where he married probable prostitute Ellen Elliot. During their brief marriage, they faced mounting financial pressure. In January 1889, they moved to Dundee. The following month, Bury strangled his wife with a rope, stabbed her dead body, and hid the corpse. A few days later, he turned himself in. Tried and convicted, he was sentenced to death by hanging. Bury killed his wife shortly after the height of the London Whitechapel murders. Bury's previous abode near Whitechapel, and similarities between the two men's crimes led the press to suggest that Bury was the Ripper. Bury protested his innocence in the Ripper crimes, and the police discounted him as a suspect. Later authors have built on the earlier accusations, but the idea that Bury was the Ripper is not widely accepted.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Haven't been any recent criminal articles
 * Main editors:, ,
 * Promoted: April 27, 2013
 * Reasons for nomination: Article subject's 158th birthday
 * Support as nominator. QatarStarsLeague (talk) 17:34, 12 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Strong oppose for this date. My objection is the same as that which I registered with regard to the same nominator's proposal for 16 May: we should not appear to be celebrating or marking the birthdays of terrorists,  murderers, serial killers etc. Again the main editors don't appear to have been consulted. Brianboulton (talk) 21:28, 16 April 2017 (UTC)
 * I don't feel comfortable with this material on main page. I don't feel as strongly about it as the May 16 nomination but still... Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 01:01, 17 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Is this really a discussion that even needs to be had? &#8209; Iridescent 15:52, 18 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:22, 18 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose it's nice to see that all across the main page we are now moving away from macabre "celebrations" of the births or deaths of those who committed heinous crimes. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:00, 19 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Coordinator's comment as with Khalid al-Mihdhar, I accept that we should not celebrate his "birthday". However, unlike that article, his crimes are so long ago that no living person can be significantly affected. Assuming that there are no other problems with the article (I haven't checked yet) I see no reason why this should run on any other date this month. Jimfbleak - talk to me?  14:35, 20 April 2017 (UTC)