William Ward-Higgs

{{Short description|English lawyer and songwriter (1866–1936)}}

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William Ward-Higgs (3 January 1866{{Spaced ndash}}21 June 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 on 3{{Nbsp}}January 1866 at Whitmore, Talbot Road, in Southport.{{Cite news|author= |date=5 January 1866 |title=Births |work=Liverpool Daily Post |page=10 |language=en |oclc=17667613 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000197/18660105/099/0010 |access-date=21 December 2022 |url-access=subscription}} For much of his life, he worked in London as a solicitor. From {{Dash year|1902|1908}}, 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!"{{snd}}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.{{Cite book|last1=Weeks |first1=Marcus |others=Illustrated by Maddy McClellan |year=2008 |title=Sussex Music |pages=10{{Ndash}}11 |publisher=Snake River Press |location=Alfriston |isbn=978-1-906022-10-5 |url=http://www.snakeriverpress.co.uk/sites/135/product/9398/Sussex_Music.pdf |url-status=dead |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221105822/http://www.snakeriverpress.co.uk/sites/135/product/9398/Sussex_Music.pdf |archive-date=21 February 2017}} He had epilepsy in his later years, and killed himself on {{Death date and age|df=y|1936|6|21|1866|1|3}} at his home in Roehampton.{{Cite news|author= |date=26 June 1936 |title=Solicitor Who Shot Himself. Suffered from Epileptic Fits. Nurse's Grim Discovery in Bath |work=West London Observer |page=9 |language=en |oclc=556840274 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000437/19360626/139/0009 |access-date=21 December 2022 |url-access=subscription}} He is buried in Bersted churchyard.{{Cite web|author= |year=2022 |title=The Regimental Marches |website=www.royalsussex.org.uk |url=https://www.royalsussex.org.uk/the-regiment/marches/ |url-status=live |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413191442/https://www.royalsussex.org.uk/the-regiment/marches/ |archive-date=13 April 2021}}