Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/43

Busk  of the vaguest character was there adduced against Bushnell, and at the defendant's request a further adjournment took place. On 1 July the court met at Marlborough, and Bushnell called witnesses for the defence, but their testimony was refused on the ground that they were ‘against the Commonwealth and present government,’ and their places were taken by more witnesses on the other side. On 14 July at Lavington the scene was repeated; on 23 July at Salisbury Bushnell was privately examined ‘touching his sufficiency,’ and was finally ejected from his living. Under a recent ordinance Bushnell could claim ‘the fifths’ of his living, and this pittance he obtained with some difficulty. His case does not differ from that of many other beneficed clergymen, but it is regarded as a typical one because Bushnell described his experience at full length in ‘A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Commissioners appointed by Oliver Cromwell for ejecting scandalous and ignorant Ministers in the case of Walt. Bushnell, clerk, vicar of Box in the county of Wiltshire.’ Under the Commonwealth the publication of this work was prohibited, but in 1660 it was printed and became popular. Humphrey Chambers, the chief commissioner concerned, answered the charge somewhat lamely in a pamphlet published in the same year. To this answer was also appended a ‘Vindication of the Commissioners,’ by an anonymous writer. At the Restoration Bushnell was restored to his living. He died at the beginning of 1667, and was buried in the church at Box, ‘having then,’ says Wood, ‘lying by him more things fit to be printed, as I have been informed by some of the neighbourhood.’

 BUSK, HANS, the elder (1772–1862), scholar and poet, was descended from the family Du Busc of Normandy, one of whom was created Marquis de Fresney in 1668. The great-grandson of the marquis was naturalised in England in 1723. From his eldest son Lord Houghton was descended, and his youngest son was Sir Wordsworth Busk, treasurer of the Inner Temple. Hans Busk, the youngest son of Sir Wordsworth Busk and Alice, daughter and co-heiress of Edward Parish of Ipswich and Walthamstow, was born on 28 May 1772. Possessing an estate at Glenalder, Radnorshire, he took an active interest in county business, was a justice of the peace, and for some time high sheriff. His leisure was devoted to classical studies and general literature, and he published several volumes of verse, including ‘Fugitive Pieces in Verse,’ 1814; ‘The Vestriad or the Opera, a Mock Epic Poem, in Five Cantos,’ 1819; ‘The Banquet, in Three Cantos,’ 1819; ‘The Dessert, to which is added the Tea,’ 1820; ‘The Lay of Life,’ 1834. He died at Great Cumberland Place, Hyde Park, on 8 Feb. 1862. By his wife, Maria, daughter and heiress of Joseph Green, he left two sons (the eldest of whom was Hans Busk, born 1815 [q. v.]), and five daughters.

 BUSK, HANS, the younger (1815–1882), one of the principal originators of the volunteer movement in England, son of Hans Busk, born 1772 [q. v.], was born on 11 May 1815. He was educated at King's College, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1839, and M.A. in 1844. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1841. While still an undergraduate, he represented to the government the advisability of forming rifle clubs in the different districts of the kingdom for defence against invasion, and on receiving a discouraging reply from Lord Melbourne, he instituted a model rifle club in the university, and published a popular treatise on ‘The Rifle and how to use it.’ In 1858 he restored vitality to the Victoria Rifles, the only volunteer corps then existing, and the lectures he delivered throughout the country were instrumental in extending the movement over the whole kingdom. He also published a number of treatises and pamphlets, which proved to be of great practical value in the development of the movement, and have passed through numerous editions. They include ‘The Rifleman's Manual,’ ‘Tabular Arrangement of Company Drill,’ ‘Handbook for Hythe,’ ‘Rifle Target Registers,’ and ‘Rifle Volunteers, how to organise and drill them.’ He took an equal interest in the navy. Originally it was his intention to adopt a naval career, and, being forced to abandon it, he devoted much of his leisure to yachting. He mastered the principles of naval construction, and made designs for several yachts which were very successful. He was the first to advocate life-ship stations, and fitted out a model life-ship at his own expense. In 1859 he published ‘The Navies of the World, their Present State and Future Capabilities,’ a comprehensive description of the condition of the principal navies of Europe, with suggestions for the improvement of the navy of England. By his friends he was held in high repute as a gastronome, and characteristically turned his