L/Cpl 300359 Joseph Seddon

The Battalion War Diary for 1st January 1918 records:

8:57 p.m.  Enemy party, estimated 30 strong, attempted to raid Lewis Gun post of Centre Company. They advanced to the wire and threw bombs into the post, causing casualties, but were driven off by the Lewis Gun team.  Two more attempts were made by the enemy to secure a prisoner, but they were again repulsed and finally withdrew, leaving three dead in front of the post. 

Casualties: 

4 Killed: Ptes, 300199 Henry G. Bickley, 300010 Samuel Hilton, 56928 William Rigby, and L/Cpl 300359 Joseph Seddon.

10 Wounded:  including Pte. 57964 Alfred W. Trueman, who recovered from his wounds but was killed in action on 28/3/1918, and Pte. 33103 William Cottier.  

Joseph now rests at Hooge Crater Cemetery, Zillebeke.

Hooge Chateau and its stables were the scene of very fierce fighting throughout the First World War. On 31 October 1914, the staff of the 1st and 2nd Divisions were wiped out when the chateau was shelled; from 24 May to 3 June 1915, the chateau was defended against German attacks and in July 1915, the crater was made by a mine sprung by the 3rd Division. On 30 July, the Germans took the chateau, and on 9 August, it and the crater were regained by the 6th Division. The Germans retook Hooge on 6 June 1916 and on 31 July 1917, the 8th Division advanced 1.6 Kms beyond it. It was lost for the last time in April 1918, but regained by the 9th (Scottish) and 29th Divisions on 28 September.

Hooge Crater Cemetery was begun by the 7th Division Burial Officer early in October 1917. It contained originally 76 graves, in Rows A to D of Plot I, but was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields of Zillebeke, Zantvoorde and Gheluvelt and other smaller cemeteries.

There are now 5,916 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 3,570 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials record the names of a number of casualties either known or believed to be buried among them, or whose graves in other cemeteries were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

He was reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post on 05th February 1918

A sad footnote to this story is that his younger brother Thomas was also killed in action. He was serving with the Royal Field Artillery when he was killed on 28th October 1917, aged 19. He now rests at Huts Cemetery XII.D.8.

Soldiers Effects to mother Margaret and Edith Dutton, Pension together with brother's to father Thomas.

Both brothers are commemorated on the Pilkington War Memorial, St Helens and also on the War Memorial at All Saints, Sutton.

 

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