One of the unique features of Brighton and Hove buses, is the fact that each bus has a name on the front. If you’ve never noticed as they pass by you or as they approach you at the bus stop, then next time you’re out and about, take a close look. All the names are of people who are deceased, but who, during their lifetime, contributed to our city in some positive way or other.
The range of the person’s “fame” varies from the first doctor to set up a Woman’s Hospital Dr Louisa Martindale (recently chosen as the name for the new part of the Royal Sussex Hospital) to Disco Pete, who was the guy in the gloves and colourful clothes who used to dance at the front of any parades during the year, and bring a smile to all our faces. When looking through the official list of names on the B and H Buses website it was pretty obvious that women’s names were certainly in the minority and a quick statistics analysis showed us this;
Names on Brighton Buses at the start of 2024
Men’s Names 191 71%
Women’s Names 77 29%
This seems a pretty poor indication of the important contribution women have made to our city. So together with Victoria Garcia from B and H Buses, this year we have begun to redress the balance. It is so important that young women and girls can see themselves reflected and celebrated in the past. The very word HISTORY sums up the inequality that we feel in relation to the past, and sadly to the present….STILL.
If you want to nominate a person to go on the bus you have to research the candidate thoroughly and send in a written proposal / profile/ preferably with a photograph of the person if you can obtain one.
This year, I’m delighted to say that all our nominated women have been accepted and are now on the buses, or are waiting to be put onto the next new fleet of buses. The names do not stay on forever, and we are making sure that our women’s names are taking the place of those who have been removed. We have already begun to improve the incredibly unbalanced statistics.
We now have the following new women on a Brighton bus;
Molly Paley; Muriel Hart; Maud Bond; Mary Hare; Sheila McWattie; Annie Nightingale; Ada Scofield; Tessie Reynolds……
Please let us know of any women from the past who you think meets the criteria to have her name on a bus ( It’s free ! ) We could help you with the research and the proposal.
By Jenny Stroud