In memory of Harry Burch

I happened to see this in All Saints' churchyard.

"On a day trip to Brighton in 1906, 10 people died and 26 people were injured at Handcross Hill, Sussex, in what still remains the worst road crash in Sussex history. A hired bus, full of Volunteer Fire Brigade members and their families from Orpington & St Mary Cray in Kent, were heading to Brighton. At Handcross Hill, the vehicle gathered speed and as the driver applied the brakes the gearbox shattered, the subsequent brake failure letting the vehicle run out of control. The adverse camber of the road threw the bus into the path of a tree.

The gearing and brakes of the Vanguard bus were designed for a maximum speed of around 14mph, ideal for day to day town travel. On the steep hill, however, the speed reached an estimated 25mph - not excessive by the standards of today but more than enough to cause the mechanical failures back in those days. The camber of the road, combined with the facts that the open topped bus was top-heavy due to the occupants crowding the upper deck, and that the driver was under the influence of alcohol (but not drunk), all contributed to this horrific tragedy. William Beaumont, of the Metropolitan Police, denied a suggestion by coroner Mr G Vere Benson that an extra emergency brake removed by the firm might have averted the disaster. He told the inquest: "Thirty or forty brakes would not have prevented this accident." " Source: Sussex History Forum

Handcross Hill is still being upgraded 108 years later.