Seddon was born in
Prescot, Lancashire in 1868. Having served an
apprenticeship as a grocer, he spent ten years working as a commercial traveller. He subsequently became the delegate of the
St Helens branch of the
National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks. He was elected as vice-president and then president of the union in 1901 and 1902. In
1906 he was elected Labour
MP for
Newton, Lancashire. Seddon continued his work with the union movement, was reselected as Labour candidate for Newton and elected a member of the parliamentary committee of the
Trades Union Congress in 1911. In 1915 he was elected
President of the TUC. In 1915 Seddon became a founding member of the
Socialist National Defence Committee. The SNDC was short-lived, becoming part of the
British Workers League in 1916. In late spring 1918 the British Worker's League resolved to become a parliamentary party. The National Democratic and Labour Party (British Workers League) or NDP was duly formed as a "patriotic working-class party". He became a member of the
Industrial Peace Union of the British Empire formed after the
General Strike of 1926. J. A. Seddon died of a
heart attack at his home in
New Barnet,
Middlesex on 31 May 1939, aged 71. ==References==