Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

21/08/1914

Date of Discharge

20/05/1920

Place of Enlistment

Albert Park, Victoria

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Hull, UK

Address (at enlistment)

40 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy, Victoria

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Sarah Seddon (mother), Hull, England

Service Number

1498

Final Rank

ER Staff Sergeant

Final Unit

Australian Graves Service AIF

Seddon was a public servant employed with the Lands and Survey Branch of the Department of Home Affairs in Canberra in the period leading up to the war. He was President of the Bachelors' Quarters Mess at Acton during 1914 and enlisted in August 1914 at Albert Park, Victoria. He embarked in October 1914 as a Gunner in the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade and was promoted regularly ending up as a Warrant Officer Class 2 in March 1917 and returning to Australia on escort duty before being discharged on 9 March 1917 medically unfit. He was temporarily employed as a clerk at the Royal Military College, Duntroon but then enlisted for the second time on 8 May 1917. He arrived in France in April 1918 but was hospitalised with debility. Seddon was ultimately promoted to Staff Sergeant in August 1920 with the Australian Graves Service. On 20 May 1922 he was discharged from the AIF in the UK in consequence of being demobilised.

Description - height 5 feet 4½ inches, weight 133 pounds, chest 33 inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, Catholic.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000.
AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
NAA (A202) 1914/4381 Full names of Officers and Employees, Federal Territory Salaries Register
NAA (A207) G1915/2089 Bachelors' Quarters - Canberra
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Queanbeyan Age - 21 January 1913, 10 March 1914