(b London, 19 Sept 1827; d London, 1 Feb 1906). Architect and designer, brother of (2) Thomas Seddon. In 1847 he became a pupil of the architect T. L. Donaldson with whom he remained until 1851, when he went on a continental tour. On his return in 1852 he set up in practice in London, and it was about this time that he was appointed architect of a hotel (1852–62) at Southerndown, Mid Glam. During its construction he met JOHN PRICHARD and the two became partners in 1852. As diocesan architects to Llandaff they built schools, parsonages and other buildings as well as churches. Their major design for the War and Foreign Offices, Whitehall, won fourth prize in the competition of 1857. They undertook many church restorations, a subject on which they held radically different views: Prichard declined to restore work that he did not consider authentic while Seddon attempted to ‘replace matters nearly as he found them’, becoming well known for the ‘loving care in which he preserved the ancient details’. He was also famous for his expertise in solving complex structural problems, for example the shoring of the tower of St Nicholas at Grosmont, Gwent.

Part of the Seddon family

• Seddon, J(ohn) P(ollard)
  • Cardiff
  • England, §VI, 6: Furniture, 1831–1900
  • Seddon
  • collaboration
    • Prichard, John
  • pupils
    • Bevan, Charles
    • Voysey, C. F. A., §1(i): Early life
  • works
    • England, §V, 6: Interior decoration, 1831–1900