Names on the buses

824 John James Crowe

Connections with Brighton and Hove : John James Crowe of the Worcestershire Regiment was the second Brighton man to be awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War. Ernest Beal was the first. Captain Crowe, who lived in Dudley Road, was in the thick of fighting during the war and although he was twice blown up and once buried alive he was never seriously injured. Crowe came from a military background and was already an experienced soldier at the outbreak of the war. He was awarded the VC in 1918 for his role in Neuve Eglise, France, where soldiers successfully held the village even though only 14 out of 25- men survived. They captured German machine guns and recaptured their own during the action which lasted a week... Crowe had already been in the Army for more than 20 years and did not retire until 1920. He then became school attendance officer for Brighton and stayed on for 25 years. In his later years he was president of the Woodingdean Happy Circle old people’s club and a seat was placed in the entrance hall of Woodingdean Community Centre after his death at 88 in 1965. He also bought an orchard in Moulsecoomb and faced a constant battle, against local boys scrumping.

824 Mercedes Streetdeck on Route 1 - carried name since December 2016. Route 1 branding removed in October 2020. Repainted into Breeze up the Downs livery in August 2021.