Talk:Tracy Philipps

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Tracy Philipps/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Kaiser matias (talk · contribs) 17:21, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

Will review shortly. Kaiser matias (talk) 17:21, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

Comments

• The note about his birthdate: is there a source the confirms the discrepancy with the Who's Who entries? The sources included there cover everything but that.

• The lead is short considering the length of the article. It should summarize the article, so should include things like his time at university (or at least where he studied), his time in the First World War, his post-war tenure in Uganda, travels around Africa and to the Balkans, his work in Ukraine and Canada, and his advocacy for Ukrainians as a whole.

• "...Margaret Louisa Everard (née ffolkes) (died 1954)..." Consider merging the two parenthesis here: "(née ffolkes; died 1954); it would look cleaner.

• "...who later married Harold Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon after the death of her first husband." This would be better of as it's own sentence, and can help reword the paragraph here. An example of how to go: "Tracy Philipps was the only child of the Rev. John Erasmus Philipps (7 May 1863, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire – 3 May 1923, Salisbury, Wiltshire) and Margaret Louisa Everard (née ffolkes; died 1954). The elder Philipps was Vicar of Staindrop in County Durham and domestic chaplain to the 9th Baron Barnard, and after his death in 1923 Margaret married Harold Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon."

• "His son Tracy was born..." Just say "Tracy was born..." as it's less possessive.

• "From September 1904 he boarded at Marlborough College, and left in December 1906." Did he leave because he graduated, or for other reasons?

• " For university he is said to have eventually studied at Oxford for a period of time." While the note clarifies the uncertainty, it would be good to also mention within the text that sources are unclear.

• "Both Griffith and Grose-Hodge, Presidents of the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union respectively, were at Marlborough at the same time as Philipps, and, as he noted in his introductory speech, in the very same form." This is awkward where it is now, as a standalone sentence at the end. I'd suggest moving it up to the part where Philipps' time at Marlborough was mentioned, as it's relevant there.

More to come. Kaiser matias (talk) 20:18, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

• "From November 1916 – March 1917..." I don't think using a dash here is appropriate, or at least not something I would go with; I'd suggest using "to", as it just feels more natural ("From Novmeber 1916 to March 1917"). The other date ranges are fine, but I feel within prose a word should be used there.

• There's a mention of the Order of Leopold here, and as it is a foreign decoration for Philips, I'd suggest noting it's origins. Something simple like "...awarded the Belgian Order of Leopold" would be enough to convey it's not a British award. I also am reading it to understand he was awarded it for being on the Special List; is that accurate?

• For the captions of Prince Wilhelm and Empress Zewditu, add their countries ("Prince Wilhelm of Sweden"; "Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia").

• "In the course of this mission he would meet, for not the final time in his life, ... W.E.B. Du Bois." This is phrased oddly, and can be improved: "In the course of this mission he met W.E.B. Du Bois, the organiser of the Congress and an American sociologist and Pan-Africanism advocate."

• "... he may have decided to follow Nansen to Turkey..." A pedantic point, but if I understand this trip was in 1920, so "Turkey" didn't yet exist (it was founded in 1923), so would be more accurate to say he was in the Ottoman Empire.

• "...he had gained 16 lbs. in weight..." Use Template:Convert to add kg to this: {{convert|16|lb|kg}}. I'd also suggest a note for the stone measurement (to avoid messing up the quote); I understand it's common in the UK, but as a Canadian I have no idea how much that is, and don't think a lot of non-UK residents would either.

• "...the Ukrainian Bureau, a lobbying centre formed in 1931 ... to advocate for Ukrainian nationalism." Did the explicitly advocate for nationalism, or for a Ukrainian state or Ukrainians as a whole? The idea of lobbying for a concept like nationalism seems unusual, so I want to make clear that is the case here.

• "... Deputy Minister of War Services T. C. Davis..." Clarify that he's the Canadian Deputy Minister; as Philipps was working with the British it's unclear.

• "...Canadian-Ukrainians..." The more common phrase is "Ukrainian-Canadian" (the ancestral nationality first).

• There are two extensive quotes from Philipps in the "Nationalities Branch" section, but neither of them have punctuation at the end; something should be included there. There's a couple more in the "UNRRA" section as well that need to be addressed, and some more in the "Views" section I saw.

• The second paragraph of the "Criticism" section has no citation at the end (about Philipps keeping his position).

• "Philipps quickly became disillusioned by the forced repatriations of Soviet subjects..." They would be Soviet citizens, not subjects.

• "...and the veto power of some states, including Soviet Russia." It wasn't "Soviet Russia" that had the veto, but the Soviet Union; it is an important distinction.

• Move the mention of him meeting his wife down to the "Personal" section. It's out of place where it is now, in the "Diplomatic Correspondent" section. I'd leave a mention that he married her there, but expand on their meeting and further details for later, where it's more relevant.

• There's a section labeled "Relationship to Secret Service", but it makes no mention of any Secret Service agency. I do see the one mention of MI6, but I don't believe they are referred to as such, and Canada never had something called the "secret service" (I'm only familiar with the US agency, but could be wrong). As such I would suggest rewording the heading, something like "Relationship to intelligence agencies" or more along those lines.

• There is a line of him being awarded an honorary degree from Durham University, and then another mention that he had "honorary awards from the Sorbonne, the University of Tehran, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. I would merge all these honorary degrees together, especially as that would remove the one-sentence paragraph about the Durham University award.

Overall this is a really neat article, and Philipps did a lot more than I had initially expected when I started the review, and I'm quite impressed. With that in mind I'll re-iterate a point I made above: the lead should definitely be expanded, as it doesn't do the article justice as is, and should be more clear about the varied life Philipps had. It's a good article though, and once the above are addressed I'll be happy to promote. Kaiser matias (talk) 03:17, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for taking this review, Kaiser matias, I will go through and notify changes to each issue one by one, starting with the first section of comments (it may take a day or two to get all of them done)

No problem. Just ping me when you are finished, and I'll take another look. Kaiser matias (talk) 18:07, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

• birth date – there is now a reference for a Who's Who with an 1888 birthdate Y

• Just done this now, please let me know if it needs to be changed further Y

• parentheses has now been merged Y

• "...who later married Harold Dillon, 17th Viscount Dillon after the death of her first husband." This is now its own sentence Y

• "His son Tracy was born..." also now fixed Y

• At British schools you don't graduate as such, school simply finishes (bit of an anti-climax, I know). The impression I got from going through magazines in the Marlborough archives is that when Philipps was a pupil the school year ran from January to December (minus summer break), whereas nowadays the format at virtually every school is August/September to June/July the following year, so presumably Philipps just completed school in December 1906

• I have added the clarification in the main text that souces are unclear Y

• "Both Griffith and Grose-Hodge, Presidents of the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union respectively..." I have edited this so it is no longer a standalone sentence, with Griffith and Grose-Hodge both introduced further up the section Y

More edits coming later. --Leonstojka (talk) 14:37, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

• "From November 1916 – March 1917..." this has now been changed Y

• I've added that the Order of Leopold is Belgian in origin. He wasn't given it for being on the Special List however, so I have reworded it slightly Y

• 'For the captions of Prince Wilhelm and Empress Zewditu, add their countries' done Y

• "In the course of this mission he would meet, for not the final time in his life, ... W.E.B. Du Bois." This has now been rephrased. Y

• I have changed 'Turkey' to 'Ottoman Turkey' as this makes clear we are dealing with the era before the Turkish republic, but gives the reader more of a clue location-wise Y

• the weight has been converted and a note has been added Y

• the language on the Bureau has been expanded to make its purpose more clear Y

• 'Clarify that he's the Canadian Deputy Minister' done Y

• "...Canadian-Ukrainians..." fixed Y

• I have added punctuation to the quote boxes Y

• 'The second paragraph of the "Criticism" section has no citation at the end (about Philipps keeping his position)' source for this was the one used in the previous sentence, so I have edited last two sentences into a single sentence sharing the same reference Y

• 'They would be Soviet citizens, not subjects' now fixed Y

• the wording has now been changed to Soviet Union Y

• 'Move the mention of him meeting his wife down to the "Personal" section' done Y

• 'As such I would suggest rewording the heading, something like "Relationship to intelligence agencies" or more along those lines' now changed Y

• all mentions of honorary degrees are now in the same place Y

Ok, that is now most of the suggested changes done. I am still working out an extended intro, which shouldn't take long. --Leonstojka (talk) 00:25, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

I now have an expanded introduction. --Leonstojka (talk) 02:25, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

Nicely done. Like I said it is a really neat article about someone who had quite the life. Was a pleasure to read, and happy to promote. Kaiser matias (talk) 02:01, 26 February 2021 (UTC)