Names on the buses

421 Aubrey Beardsley
603 Aubrey Beardsley

Connections with Brighton and Hove : Few people have achieved so much in so short a time as Aubrey Beardsley who died when he was only 25 from TB and must be by far the youngest person to be commemorated. Born in 1872 at Buckingham Road in Brighton, he died in 1898 at Menton near Monte Carlo. Beardsley worked as a city clerk but on the advice of Sir Edward Burne-Jones took up art full time. Most of his highly distinctive work in black and white made him one of the best known Art Noveau artists. Beardsley achieved notoriety by illustrating Salome by Oscar Wilde and had a reputation for being decadent. He also illustrated Dent’s edition of Morte d’Arthur and both the Yellow Book and The Studio. Beardsley was encouraged by his mother who also taught him to play the piano before he was five and he composed nocturnes before he was ten. He went to Brighton Grammar School and although poor at maths, excelled in the arts. A companion of him at the school was Charles Cochran who became a well-known impresario. Beardsley was tainted by his association with Wilde but his reputation recovered through his beautiful religious drawings including one of the Virgin and Child. He was eventually received into the Roman Catholic Church in the year before his death. Most of his work is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Was originally spelt wrong during June 2003.

603 Scania Omnidekka carried name since delivery in June 2003, originally named Aubrey Beardlsey in error during June 2003, repainted into new livery October 2006. Repainted into Route 50 livery April 2012. Bus sold in July 2016. Name reintroduced onto 421 Volvo Gemini Get Bus(y) Arts bus from December 2016.