Early Life
Busby was born in Alnwick, Northumberland, England, eldest son of George Busby, a miner and coalmaster of Stamford, and his wife Margaret, née Wilson, of Dunstan, Northumberland. Busby became a coal miner and later a mineral surveyor and civil engineer in Scotland, and was employed on various public work projects, including the provision of a water-supply for Leith fort. Busby received two of the Highland Society's highest premiums; firstly for inventing machinery for ascertaining the nature of rock strata by boring, and secondly for developing a method of sinking through quicksands, clay and gravel beds. In 1810 he was employed on the Irish estate of the marquess of Downshire.
He married Sarah Kennedy in 1798 in Scotland. They had 6 sons and 2 daughters, all born in Scotland.
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