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