Connections with Brighton and Hove : The champion of the ordinary man was born in Brighton and spent all his life there. A chimney sweep, he became indignant when after both world wars, many servicemen were not properly housed in their own town. Cowley and his so-called Vigilantes occupied empty houses so that these men would have somewhere to live. He also ran the Upper Gardner Street market with a fist of iron and campaigned for the rights of traders. In the Thirties, he led a successful fight against the Fascists of Sir Oswald Mosley who held meetings in the town. Cowley also spent a lot of time in successfully arguing that three local men were innocent of a murder charge. With his trademark bowler hat and bow tie, Cowley became one of the best known men in Brighton and continued to fight for causes until his death. In his later years, he set himself up as the champion of old age pensioners and he also joined squatters during their campaigns in the 1960s. Although on the side of working people, he never allied himself to any political party. People would know he was going to fight against an injustice when he declared: "This don’t come right to me." Called The Guv’nor, he attracted one of the largest crowds since the war when his funeral was held and on the coffin was a bowler hat in flowers.
826 Dennis Trident - carried name since delivery in March 2000, originally in normal red livery then repainted into METRO Line 49 livery from June 2003, repainted in the new livery June 2005. Bus sold November 2012.
460 Volvo Gemini carried name since delivery in June 2012 on Route 5. Repainted into standard livery October 2019.