Sydney James (Jim) SEADER

SEADER, Sydney James

Service Number: 976
Enlisted: 21 July 1915, Liverpool
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 30th Infantry Battalion
Born: Forbes, New South Wales, Australia, 13 February 1897
Home Town: Kiama, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Shell wounds left arm, Polygon Wood, Belgium, 29 September 1917, aged 20 years
Cemetery: Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
Plot 24 Row B Grave 7A
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

21 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 976, 30th Infantry Battalion, Liverpool
9 Nov 1915: Involvement Private, 976, 30th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Beltana embarkation_ship_number: A72 public_note: ''
9 Nov 1915: Embarked Private, 976, 30th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Beltana, Sydney
29 Sep 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 976, 30th Infantry Battalion, Polygon Wood

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Biography contributed by Michael Silver

Jim Seader had a checkered military career from the moment he arrived in Egypt in December 1915 until he died of wounds received at Polygon Wood in late September 1917.

Born at Forbes in central west New South Wales in 1897, the second oldest of six children of  William and Nora Seader (nee Kelly), he enlisted as an 18 year old at Liverpool and was assigned to the 30th Battalion AIF.

Private Seader was consistently in trouble with his military superiors for a variety of minor offences whilst in the Middle East. Transferred to the Western Front in June 1916, his indiscretions continued with several AWL charges and being returned to France under escort from leave in England.

In April 1917 he was Court Martialled and sentenced to six months imprisonment for altering his pay book. 

On 19 September 1917 he was released early from detention and returned to his unit, with tragic consequences. Ten days later he was dead - suffering severe wounds to his left side from a shell blast near Polygon Wood on September 28. Taken to the 14th Casualty Clearing Station, he succumb to his wounds the next day.

Private Jim Seader was buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.

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