The Lamb Collection - Crime and Punishment  in the 19th century. Click here to return to Crime main page

Declaration of Death Sentence for William Bury
1889

The last execution to take place in Dundee was in the year 1889, within the walls of the prison of Dundee. Between the hours of 8 and 9 o'clock a.m., 29 year-old William Bury, thought by some to have been Jack the Ripper, was executed for the crime of murdering his wife. His trial was one of the longest trials in Dundee at the time.

This poster declares that a sentence of death was passed on Bury on the 24th of April and includes a certification of death signed by J.W. Miller M.D., the medical officer at the prison. Known for his drunkardness, Bury confessed before his death his plan to kill his wife to acquire her money, which he carried out - strangling, then stabbing her and placing her body in a trunk. The couple had moved to Dundee from London and had acquired lodgings on Princes Street, where the murder took place.

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