William Henry Bury

William Henry Bury (25 May 1859 – 24 April 1889) was executed in Dundee, Scotland, for the murder of his wife Ellen in 1889, shortly after the height of the Whitechapel murders in London that were attributed to the unidentified serial killer "Jack the Ripper". Bury's previous abode near Whitechapel, and certain similarities between the crimes, led to suggestions that Bury was the Ripper. He denied any connection, despite confessing that he had strangled his wife.

Bury was orphaned an early age, and was educated at a charitable school in the English Midlands. After a few years in regular employment, he fell into financial difficulty, was sacked for theft, and became a street peddler. In 1887, he moved to London, where he married probable prostitute Ellen Elliot. During their stormy marriage, which lasted just over a year, they faced increasing financial hardship. In January 1889, they moved to Dundee. The following month, he strangled his wife with a rope, stabbed her dead body with a penknife, and hid the corpse in a box in their room. A few days later, he presented himself to the local police, and was arrested for her murder. Tried and convicted, he was sentenced to death by hanging. Shortly before his execution, he confessed to the crime. Bury's previous association with the Whitechapel district of London, and similarities between the Ripper's crimes and Bury's, led the media and executioner James Berry to link the two. Bury protested his innocence in the Ripper crimes, and the police discounted him as a suspect.