T E Lawrence and his Brough Superiors

[Ghazala]

 

Tony Cripps

Tony Cripps sadly passed away last week after a long illness. Tony was the owner of 'XX7646', widely acknowledged to be 'George IV', Lawrence's first SS-100 Brough motorcycle from 1924-5. Tony loved to bring the bike to Clouds Hill each year to show it off to visitors and was always generous about letting people sit on it. He was with us last August when the Brough Rally visited the cottage and fittingly was the last to ride off that afternoon in a huge cloud of exhaust fumes. He had restored about 80 Broughs during his life and was recognized as a master craftsman; the last one he restored was also a Lawrence Brough, 1929's 'George VI'. 

 

Here's a photo taken back in 2016 during 'Lawrence Week' at Clouds Hill. (He wasn't one for smiling for the camera!) He's pictured with 'George VI', Lawrence's penultimate motorcycle and one he had expertly restored to its former glory. It was the first and so far only time George VI has been back to Clouds Hill since 1932. The picture he's holding is Lawrence on the very same bike chatting to the manufacturer George Brough in Nottingham. 

 

Tony's funeral is at Poole Crematorium on Tuesday 12th February at 2pm.