Early Life
Robert Busk was born in 1768, the third son of
Wadsworth Busk and his wife
Alice Parish.
Career
Robert evidently went into trade, becoming a merchant (of what, we do not know for certain, but it was probably flax-related as there is a patent
1 from 1826) and fetched up in
St Petersburg in Russia
2. There he formed a company, Busk Brothers with his brother Jacob Hans, which mainly dealt in exports (possibly sending flax back to England). The start of the (relatively low-key)
Anglo-Russian War in 1807 must have put paid to Robert's business plans as he was forced to return to England in June 1808; the following is from the
London Star, dated 7
th June 1808:
STOCKHOLM, May 23
Yesterday arrived a Mecklenburgh vessel from Revel, with 36 English passengers on board. One of them left St. Petersburgh so lately as the 10th May (new style). He states the discontent there to have been very great; but, nevertheless, every thing is directed by General Caulincourt, the French Ambassador. Great apprehension was entertained of the destination of the British fleet; an army of 25,000 men was assembling at Revel [aka
Tallin, in Estonia], and a large body of troops ordered to Archangel. To secure Cronstadt, a number of vessels have been sunk, from Hogland up to Cronstadt. Rigorous measures are adopted to prevent the exportation of goods to England and Sweden; the amount of every shipment must be paid down, to serve as a security, until proof is brought of the landing of the goods in a friendly country: the please of capture and confiscation by the enemy will not be admitted.
May 23 - It will no doubt afford great satisfaction to their relations and friends, to be informed of the safe arrival here of the folloiwng persons from St. Petersburgh, after applying for and soliciting passports for months past. They reached a small port, called Baltic port, about 35 miles west of Revel, by degrees, and having at last all met, they hired a
Mecklenburgh vessel, and sailed from thence on the 14th instant.
Mr Robert Busk, Lady's Maid, and two Children; ...
One wonders where Robert's wife Jane was? Perhaps she had returned earlier, though it seems strange that she would have done that without her children (
Robert Parish and
George, see below).
Once back in Leeds, Robert evidently set up - or continued to manage - a flax factory in
Hunslet (an article from the
Leeds Intelligencer, dated 17 May 1819, notes a fire in the adjacent joiner's shop). His partner until 1821 was William King Westley (see patent mentioned in footnotes); the
Leeds Mercury of 8 September 1821 however suggests some kind of dramatic bust-up with his partner:
Notice is hereby given, that all Connection in the way of Business betwixt Robert Busk, of Burton-Lodge, and William King Westley, of Hunslet, near Leeds, has been finally Dissolved; and moreover that the said Robert Busk, though henceforth compelled to withdraw all personal Countenance and Favour from the said W.K. Westley, wishing not to influence (further) the Opinions or Behaviour of others towards him, will positively decline answering all Inquiries respecting his Character or Conduct, and in any degree vouching for either. The Expense and Trouble of making such Inquiries, either by Letter or in Person, Strangers are accordingly cautioned hereafter to avoid.
Robert Busk
Burton-Lodge, 4th September 1821
Whatever happened here, in 1826 Robert and WK Westley were granted
1 a patent "for improvements in machinery for heckling or dressing, and for breaking, switching, or cleaning hemp, flax, or other fibrous substances". Perhaps they made up, or perhaps the patent had been applied for when they were still amicable, but took many years to be awarded.
Family Life
Robert married
Jane Westly (poss. Westley), the daughter of
John Westly and
Martha Lowth, on the 12
th April 1805, at the
British Chaplain in St Petersburg, Russia. There was quite an age gap between them: at the time of marriage Robert was 37 but Jane was just 19. It seems likely that Jane's family, though living in St Petersburgh, originated from Leeds, like the
Busks.
Together, Jane and Robert had seven sons and a daughter:
- Robert Parish, born 1806; he married Martha Pruen with no issue
- George, born 1807, who became a British naval surgeon, zoologist and palaeontologist and married Ellen Busk, his first cousin; they had five daughters who all died unmarried
- John Westley, born 1809, who married Harriet Mary Jubb; their only daughter Anna died unmarried
- Arthur, born 1811; died unmarried
- Anna Jane, born 1813 and who married Darnton Lupton in Bradford (1838)
- Charles James, born 1820 and married Elizabeth Westly; from them descend many modern-day cousins
- Stephen, born 1821; possibly died unmarried
- Andrew Lawrence, born 1825
The first two sons were born in Russia, the remaining children in London. On returning from Russia, it looks like the family moved (back?) to Leeds. Jane Westly died in 1828 (aged just 43) at
Burton Lodge in Hunslet (Hunslet is where Robert's flax mill
1 was located). Robert himself is referred to in contemporary news articles as being of Burton Lodge.
Death
Robert survived his wife for seven years and died in London at the end 1835 or in early January 1836, aged 67.
His will (dated 1809, probate 18
th April 1836 in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury) makes mention of his wife Jane (who was still alive in 1809 when he wrote the will), who received most of his chattels. To Sir Stephen Sharp (the ex British Consul-General in Russia) he left £50 (about £3,000 today). His will also mentions his brother and trade partner Jacob Hans, his other brothers Edward and Hans, his brothers-in-law John and Charles Westly, his grandmother
Elizabeth Parish and his son George.
Footnotes
[1] To Robert Busk, and William King Westly [sic, possibly a brother-in-law], of Leeds, Yorkshire, flax-spinners, for improvements in machinery for heckling or dressing, and breaking, scutching, or cleaning hemp, flax, or other fibrous substances. See
here. See
here for William King which suggests he was a (younger) brother of Jane. There's also a site known as
"Robert Busk's Flax Mill" in Hunslet, Leeds. Another ref
here
[2] Adapted from
Making a Communal World - English Merchants in Imperial St. Petersburg, by Marie-Louise Karttunen: In 1553, a group of City of London merchants sent three ships north east around the European continent in an attempt to discover a short sea route to China. The aim was to establish a monopoly trade with the Chinese which might produce the kind of fabulous wealth that the Spanish and ‘Portingales’ were extracting from the new worlds of the Americas. Instead of China, the ships – or rather one of them – discovered a direct route to Moscow which avoided the Baltic, the Hanseatic monopoly of Baltic ports, and the toll at the Danish Sound. The investors were satisfied with this and founded the London-based Muscovy Company (later the Russia Company) the following year – an organisation which attempted to maintain a monopoly on Anglo-Russian trade from 1554 until the later decades of the nineteenth century, policed at the Russian end by a local Chief Agent and his assistants.
[3]
https://archive.org/details/calendarofancien18dubl/page/446?q=%22wadsworth+busk%22
1768 - 1835 (67 years)
[1, 2] 
