Sussex by the Sea

"Sussex by the Sea" (also known as "A Horse Galloping") is a patriotic song written in 1907 by William Ward-Higgs, often considered to be the unofficial county anthem of Sussex. It became well known throughout Sussex and is regularly sung at celebrations throughout the county. It can be heard during many sporting events in the county, during the Sussex bonfire celebrations and it is played by marching bands and Morris dancers across Sussex. It is the adopted song of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club and of Sussex County Cricket Club.

The song became popular during the First World War, having already been adopted by the Royal Sussex Regiment as an unofficial "nick" march. William Ward-Higgs, a native of Lancashire, lived at Hollywood House in South Bersted for only five or six years. One version of the tune's origins is that Ward-Higgs grew to love his adopted county so much he produced a marching song in its praise. In another version Ward-Higgs composed the song specifically for the wedding of his sister-in-law Gladys when she became engaged to Captain Roland Waithman of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. It may well have come from a poem written by Rudyard Kipling in 1902 entitled Sussex, the final stanza of which is:

The song was published in 1907, and Captain Waithman performed it in concerts at Ballykinlar Camp in Ireland where the battalion was then stationed. The song never became the regimental march: this was always "The Royal Sussex". It was, however, the first march used by the Royal Air Force, as their Officers Training School No. 1 was in a hotel in St Leonards-on-Sea. During the liberation of Singapore at the end of World War II in 1945, the Royal Marine band of the heavy cruiser HMS Sussex played "Sussex by the Sea" as the ship entered harbour.

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