William Ward-Higgs

Aged unknown

William Ward-Higgs (1866–1936) was an English lawyer and songwriter who wrote "Sussex by the Sea": the unofficial anthem of that county, a regimental march of the Royal Sussex Regiment, and the official song of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. He was born in Birkenhead in 1866. For much of his life, he worked in London as a solicitor. From 1902–08, he lived at Hollywood House in Bersted, West Sussex. He wrote "Sussex by the Sea" when his favourite sister-in-law became engaged to Captain Waithman of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. He may have been inspired by Rudyard Kipling's poem Sussex, which ends with the line "Yea, Sussex by the sea!" – he had previously set to music several of Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads. The song was published in 1907. Subsequently, he moved back to London. He had epilepsy in his later years, and took his own life at Roehampton in 1936. He is buried in Bersted churchyard.

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