EDWARD SEAFORD
The tram service in Portsmouth features heavily in the Seaford family for over 30 years prior to the Great War. Edward's father, also known as Edward (b. 1856) is described in the 1881 census as a Tram Driver and continues to be involved in the service at the censuses of 1901 and 1911. Edward jnr. (b. 1881) for his part seems to have joined the service almost as soon as he left school, becoming in 1911 an Electrical Wireman.
Edward snr. does not seem to appear in the censuses of 1871 and 1891, but in between he is recorded as marrying Alice Burnett Dotterill in 1880. The following year Edward and Alice were living at 16 Kingston Road with their first born child Edward jnr. In 1901 the family were living at 115 London Road, North End and then included four more children - Alfred (b. 1883), Kate (b. 1887), Blanche (b. 1890) and Walter (b. 1893). They were still at the same address ten years later.
Edward jnr. may have enlisted in the army prior to the outbreak of the war but nothing of his service career is currently known apart from the fact that he was killed in December 1916 on the Somme and is buried with 11 comrades from the Hampshire Regiment at Sailly-Saillisel.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists Lance Corporal E. Seaford, (24846), 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, died on 20/12/1916. Buried in the Sailly-Saillisel British Cemetery (Grave Ref: VI.H.4.).
Edward Seaford is remembered on the City of Portsmouth Passenger Transport Department WW1 Memorial, the All Saints Parishioners WW1 memorial and the Cenotaph in Portsmouth. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War'.
Tim Backhouse
March 2014