William Ernest Bush was born in 1861, in Hackney, London, the eldest son of William John Bush, the founder of West J Bush & Company Limited, a London-based manufacturer of scents and flavourings, some for the pharmaceutical industry, founded in 1851 at Bishopsgate.
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 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 dated 25 December 1889.
The Baron de Bush was granted a Royal license to use his title in the United Kingdom on 29 July 1896. On 6 December 1899, de Bush married Clara Pauline Joran (1870–1954), daughter of Louis Grund Joran of Freeport, Illinois, United States of America. They had one child, a daughter called Paulise Mary Louise.
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 West J Bush & Company Limited passed on to a younger brother, John Mortimer Bush.
