John Pollard Seddon was a Gothic Revivalist architect. He was born at London House, 150 Aldersgate Street, London, England on 19 September 1827 and was the son of Thomas Seddon (1793-1864), a cabinetmaker, and brother of the painter Thomas Seddon (1821-1856). He was articled to Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795-1885) from 1847 to 1851 and subsequently began practising as an independent architect in London from the early 1850s. From 1853 to 1869 he was in partnership with John Pritchard (1817-1886) in Llandaff, Wales.
In 1884, he took John Coates Carter (1859-1927) into partnership to work on projects in Wales. The partnership was dissolved in 1894. Seddon was Diocesan and Cathedral Architect to Llanduff.
Notable among Seddon's architectural projects was University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1864-86). He designed numerous churches, including St Catherine's Church in Hoarwithy, Herefordshire, and worked on the renovation or restoration of several others, including Llandaff Cathedral, with Pritchard.
In addition to his work as an architect, Seddon designed furniture for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co, Gillows, Thomas Seddon and Cox & Sons; tiles for Maw & Co. and Minton; stained glass for Lavers & Barraud, Clayton & Bell, Chance Brothers & Co., and S. Belham & Co.; and ceramics for Fulham Pottery.
He designed stained glass windows for the Church of St Peter, Dixton, Monmouthshire (1862); Christ College Chapel, Brecon, Brecknockshire [now Powys] (1865); Church of St John the Evangelist, Maindee, Newport, Monmouthshire (1865); Church of St Jerome, Llangwm, Monmouthshire (c1877); Church of St Padarn, Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion (1884, 1885); Church of St John the Baptist, Cardiff (1890); and Church of St Mary, Briton Ferry, Neath Port Talbot (1890s).
Seddon was closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite circle and designed a monument to Dante Gabriel Rossetti for Chelsea Embankment in London.
He was the author of several books and numerous articles and gave frequent lectures. Among books by Seddon were 'Progress in Art and Architecture with Precedents for Ornament' (1852) and 'Rambles in the Rhine Provinces' (1867).
The architect-designer C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941) was articled to Seddon.
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1852 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1860. In 1878, he succeeded Sir Gilbert Scott as Director of the Royal Architectural Museum in Westminster.
He died in London on 1 February 1906. Over 2,000 architectural drawings by Seddon are archived at the Victoria & Albert Museum
A biographical file on John Pollard Seddon is available on request at the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
Blackshaw, Tye R. 'An architect of many churches': John Paul Seddon’. Ecclesiology Today no. 42, June 2010 pp. 83-102
Darby, Michael. John Pollard Seddon: Catalogue of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.
Darby, Michael. ‘The first bungalows: term first applied in England to a development on the Isle of Thanet, Kent; Designed by: John Taylor and J. P. Seddon in the 1880's’. Country Life vol. 164, no. 4230, 3 August 1978 pp. 306-309.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Durant, Stuart. ‘Voysey and Seddon, and the era of his youth’. The Orchard: the journal of the C F A Voysey Society no. 1, Autumn 2012 pp. 17-23
Seddon, J. P. ‘Church fittings’ RIBA Transactions new series, vol. 6, 1890 pp. 165-186
Seddon, J.P. ‘S. Nicholas' Church, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk’. The Ecclesiologist. vol. 25, 1864 pp. 28–34.
Victorian Church Art. [Catalogue of an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1971-72] London: HMSO, 1971
‘Obituary’. Building News vol. 90, 9 February 1906, p. 203
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 13, 1906, pp. 194, 221
'Obituary'. The Builder, 10 February 1906, p. 150