William Ernest Bush aka the Baron de Bush, was the only Baron Freiherr von Bush of Coburg-Gotha. He was husband of the opera singer Pauline Joran

Pauline Joran

Pauline Joran was an American-born opera singer and violinist. She was the wife of William Ernest Bush, the first and last Baron de Bush, and mother of Paulise de Bush, the "Baby Baroness"...

, and father of Paulise de Bush, who became the "Baby Baroness" following his death in a railway accident in 1903.

Early life

William Ernest Bush was born in 1861, in Hackney, London, the eldest son of William John Bush, the founder of W J Bush & Co Ltd, a London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-based manufacturer of scents and flavourings, some for the pharmaceutical industry, founded in 1851 at Bishopsgate

Bishopsgate

Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...

. After William John Bush died in 1889, he was succeeded by his son as head of the company.

William Ernest Bush was a fellow of the Chemical Society of London. In his professional capacity he acted as the British Juror for Chemicals at the Antwerp International Exhibition in 1885. In 1888 he stood as the President of Chemical Section and was the British Representative on the Supreme Jury of the Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 Exhibition in 1888. This led to him being granted the title of Baron Freiherr von Bush of Coburg-Gotha by Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in ducal letters patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

-dated 25 December 1889. The Baron de Bush was granted a Royal license

License

The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...

 to use his title in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on 29 July 1896.

Marriage & death

On 6 December 1899, de Bush married Clara Pauline Joran (1870–1954), daughter of Louis Grund Joran of Freeport, Illinois

Freeport, Illinois

Freeport is a city in and the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. They had one child, a daughter called Paulise Mary Louise.

On 24 July 1903, de Bush died after falling in front of a express train near Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 while he and his wife were travelling up to Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The title was declared to be extinct in 1910. However, Bush's daughter Paulise (1900–1975) became the Baroness de Bush, and was called "The Baby Baroness" due to being the youngest Baroness in England. As a Freiin, (the daughter of a Freiherr) Paulise had the right to be addressed as "Baroness", although this could not be passed to her descendants. Control of W J Bush & Co Ltd passed on to a younger brother, John Mortimer Bush.