Author: BUSBY, Robert
Biography:
BUSBY, Robert (1803-62: ancestry.co.uk)
Robert Busby was one of eight children born to Daniel Busby, a baker in Clayport, Alnwick, Northumberland, and his wife Ann Swan. His birth at Alnwick on 30 May 1803 was registered at the Sion Meeting House (Presbyterian) in Alnwick. He was articled to Robert Thorp, an attorney in Alnwick, for five years on 6 Feb. 1821. During this period Busby and several friends set up a “Philalethical Society” to discuss their literary and other interests. He opened his own law practice in Alnwick in 1829 and on 20 May 1836 he was made Master Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery. Busby was known for being very public spirited and progressive in his views and he was, among other activities, one of the founders of the Alnwick library. He also served on the local board of health. No record has been located for his marriage but his wife’s name was Maria and she was born in about 1807. The 1851 Census shows them living in Alnwick with three of their children. He died suddenly on 14 Sept. 1862 and was buried in the churchyard at All Saints church in the village of Rennington near Alnwick where a memorial commemorates him with his parents and siblings. A death notice records that he was “a deeply read and accurate lawyer” with a mind “gifted by nature with literary accomplishments of a high and varied character.” Edward Dowling (1797-1849), the editor and printer of Fragments of the Lyre, included eleven of Busby’s otherwise unpublished poems, finding them worthy of being read alongside work by “the best and latest pieces of the first poets of the present day.” (ancestry.co.uk 28 Mar. 2025; George Tate, History of the Borough, Castle, and Barony of Alnwick 2 [1868], 399-400; findmypast.co.uk 28 Mar. 2025; Gateshead Observer 20 Sept. 1862) SR