James was born in Pimlico in 1826 to William and Mary. 

In the April 1841 Census James  was with his elder brother James and they were soldiers based in Chatham with over 3,000 other soldiers. 

He joined the army aged 15 and spent 15 years with the army leaving at the end of 1856. 

He started in 1841 with the 21^st Regiment of Foot but moved to the 55^th Regiment in 1848. 

You may recall that his older brother John served in the 55^th Regiment (with less distinction) from 1840 until 1854. So for 6 years they were in the same regiment. 

Details of his service can be found in his Regimental Board Report.   

From this we know that over half of this time he was abroad being 6 years in the East Indies and 2 years in Turkey and the Crimea, where he was injured, and a short time in Gibraltar. 

The regiment however was also in Ireland (which in those days was not abroad). Both brothers, John and James, married Irish girls in Ireland.

Aged 23 he was obviously there as he met and married Mary Killey in Dublin on 3^rd June 1849 (MC)  at St Thomas’s in Dublin (a church destroyed later in the Civil War!!).

Their first child, William, was born in Dublin in 1850. 

They must have moved back to London between 1851 and 1855 as James was born in Whitechapel that year.   

This boy was effectively James II and as we will see later he had a son James III born in 1880. This James was my grandfather and of course father of James IV being Jimmy who married Josephine Brown and is the father of Sue, Chris and Jenny Bussicott. 

As can be seen from his army records James left the army aged 30 at the end of 1856. 

Another son John was born in Chelsea in 1858 and Mary Ann was born in Kensington early in 1861. 

In April 1861 James and his family was living in the parish of Kensington St Mary Abbott which was then in the town of Brompton in Middlesex. Living there were:

So James had left the army and was now we believe a groom for a horse drawn carriage in London. He would I imagine be getting an army pension.

Catherine was and born in 1864 in Chelsea and Henrietta was born in 1867 in Fulham.  

James the father was now a labourer as was William the eldest son. James my great grandfather was at 16 working in a shop and the 13 year old John worked in a shoe factory.

Theresa (or Teresa) was born in Kensington in 1872. 

In the next few years William the eldest left home and he married Ellen who was also Irish.

Also James married Eliza. Both are followed up later.

Staying with James the ex-soldier and his family we find them in April 1881 living at 19 Fords Place in Battersea

* Also living with them at the time of the census was Charlotte Bussicott the daughter of James and Eliza. 

Here we see that James was getting an army pension.

John the son was now a labourer and Mary Ann a laundry maid.  

In the next decade: 

John Bussicott married Sarah Ann Bentley in Chelsea and again we follow him later. 

Catherine Bussicott died in Wandsworth in 1881 aged just 18. 

Mary Ann married in 1885 

Henrietta Bussicott died in 1886 aged 19 

Theresa (Teresa) married in 1890 

Esther was another daughter of James born circa 1863 and was strangely was not traced in the 1871 and 1881 censuses.  

Esther Bussicott married Alfred George Harris on 9^th March 1884 (MC) and James was recorded as her father on the marriage certificate. He is recorded as a stoker and as you will see later other members of the family were also stokers. There was a large gas works in Battersea and no doubt he worked there.  

So by April 1891 living at 23 Fords Place in Battersea (just a few doors away from 10 years ago) were just

Also living with them at the time of the census was a granddaughter Catherine Harris (daughter of Esther and George) who was by then 6 and born in Pimlico.  

James Bussicott died in Wandsworth in 1898 aged 72.  

Mary Bussicott also died later that year in Wandsworth aged 67. 

To continue we now follow the three sons of James and Mary being William, James and John and to do this select each of the names in turn.