Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The British War Medal awarded to Private G. R. Seddon, 18th (2nd City Pals) Battalion, Liverpool Regiment, who was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916

British War Medal 1914-20 (16870 Pte. G. R. Seddon. L’pool R.) minor edge nicks, otherwise nearly extremely fine £100-£140

George Richard Seddon, a native of Fazakerley in North Liverpool, attested for the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) City Battalion (Liverpool Pals) on 1 September 1914 just two days after the Battalion was formed in Liverpool by Lord Derby, and served with the 18th (2nd City Pals) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 7 November 1915. He was killed in action on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, on which date the battalion suffered over 500 casualties.

As part of the 30th Division, the 18th Battalion, alongside other Liverpool Pals in the 17th and 20th Battalions, were in the first wave of attacking troops on the right of the British line at Maricourt. Having been supported by intense French artillery fire the 17th and 20th were able to move forward quite quickly and overrun their objectives with little opposition, but the 18th, faced with a German machine gun to their left at the Glatz Redoubt did not fare so well and took heavy casualties before a bombing party was able to silence it. Seddon was amongst those killed; he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.