While still an undergraduate, he lobbied the Government to form rifle clubs for defence against invasion, and created a model rifle club at Cambridge in 1837.[1] This grew into the "Volunteers" movement, which he helped to pioneer. He served with the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteers and with the Royal Victoria Rifle Club, and wrote a number of practical manuals regarding rifle training. He was styled "Captain Busk".
He also took an interest in designing yachts and lifeboats, and advocated the installation of lifeboat stations.[1][2] He was a gastronome, and founded the School of Cookery at South Kensington.
Another sister, Frances Rosalie, married Rev. Charles Vansittart in May 1845, but the marriage was deeply troubled, and Hans Busk was involved in legal proceedings between his sister and her husband, including the precedent-setting case Vansittart v. Vansittart before the Court of Chancery.[4][5]
Hans Busk "Barrister-at-Law" died on 11 March 1882 at 21 Ashley Place, Westminster. In his will proved 12th May 1882, he left a personal estate of £22,576 divided in the main, between his nephew Wilfrid Hans Loder and his widowed daughter Annie Mary Moore also of 21 Ashley Place.[6]
Because he had the same name as his father, some well-known reference sources confuse the two. For instance Alumni Cantabrigienses incorrectly states that he is the father, rather than the brother of Rachel Harriette Busk; and the Dictionary of National Biography incorrectly states that he was high sheriff of Radnorshire (a post occupied by his father).
Works
1858: The Rifleman's Manual; or, Rifles, and how to use them; 2nd ed. London: Charles Noble
1858: The Rifle, and how to use it; 3rd ed. London: Routledge
1859: The Rifle, and how to use it; 4th ed. London: Routledge
