Names on the buses

808 Rudyard Kipling

869 Rudyard Kipling

923 Rudyard Kipling

Connections with Brighton and Hove : Before the days of radio and TV, well-known writers often enjoyed great popularity. In late Victorian times, there were few more popular than Rudyard Kipling who came to live in Rottingdean in 1897. Kipling moved to The Elms to be near his aunt, Georgina Burne-Jones, wife of the painter, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, who lived at North End House. While living at The Elms just off the Green, Kipling wrote some of his most famous tales including Kim, Stalky and Co and many of the Just so stories. Kipling also wrote the poem Sussex, possibly the finest ever written about the county, and the hymn Recessional while there. The writer did not like being gawped at by curious members of the public, some of whom arrived in the village by coach to see him. In 1903, he moved with his wife to Bateman’s in the remote village of Burwash, East Sussex, to get away from the crowds and remained there until his death in 1936. There is a permanent exhibition about Kipling in the village museum at The Grange while Bateman’s is open to the public during the summer and has many mementoes of the writer in his book-lined study. Developers during the 1980s sought to develop part of the large garden at The Elms with housing. But villagers saved it from this fate by purchasing the land and passing it on to Brighton Council to manage as the Kipling Garden in 1986.

808 Dennis Trident - delivered in April 1999 on Metro Line 1, renamed Les Hamilton in May 2002 swapping with 869, repainted into new livery in September 2006. Bus sold in March 2014. Name reappeared on 935 Mercedes Streetdeck in April 2015.