Lionel Bussey

Lionel Ernest Bussey (6 October 1883 – 5 December 1969) was a British mechanical and electrical engineer who amassed a collection of about 600 pairs of women's shoes. All remained unworn, with many still unopened in their boxes with receipts. On his death he bequeathed his collection to "a likely museum or museums". The Victoria & Albert Museum in London accepted 50 pairs, with others going to the Northampton Museum and the Brooklyn Museum.

Early life and family Lionel Ernest Bussey was born on 6 October 1883 to William Thomas Bussey, a "First Clerk Accountant's Department" at The Gas Light & Coke Co., Westminster, and Mary Louisa Bussey. He had a sister Edith Mary Bussey (born 1891) and another sibling. One of his parents' children had died by 1911. At the time of the 1911 census, the family was living at 65 Sandmere Road, Clapham, London. He witnessed several patents filed in the United Kingdom and the United States. He was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and was referred to as a mechanical engineer in the 1936 Probate Calendar.

In his Will, Bussey requested that "all files and papers relating to the matters of United Gas Industries Limited, U.G.I. House, 3–4 Bentinck Street, London W. 1" be offered to them. All were unworn, and many still unopened in their boxes with receipts.

In his Will, Bussey stated that "the extensive collection of footwear, acquired over the past fifty years or more, shall be offered to a likely museum or museums". The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) knew nothing about the collection until Bussey's executors informed them of it. Madeleine Ginsburg, who dealt with the accession for the museum, said: "I had to select quickly because the house was under offer, no doors would lock, and surveyors were wandering around. In the end I brought about 80 pairs back to the museum." The V&A kept 50 pairs, all made between 1908 and 1960,

Death Bussey died on 5 December 1969. His home at the time of his death was 55 Rowfant Road, Balham, London SW17, which was also his mother's home at the time of her death in 1935.