The desperate pleas to allow a soldier son of New Zealand’s longest-serving Prime Minister to be buried by his side can be retold for the first time.
For over a decade, Louisa Seddon, wife of late Prime Minister Richard Seddon (1893-1906), petitioned high and low to have her son’s body exhumed and brought home to Wellington after he was killed in France in 1918.
The heartbreaking tale of Captain Richard Seddon is one of thousands of stories from the First World War preserved in family correspondence in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) archive, released today.
"They are stories that show desperate searches for closure, former enemies uniting and, on many occasions, the sad realisation that a missing loved one would always remain so," said Andrew Fetherston, chief archivist for CWGC.
Born in Kumara Westland, Richard didn’t see action until the war was almost over and was killed within just days of reaching the front line in Northern France, on 21 August 1918.
After the war, his family pleaded for his body to be brought back home to lay at rest next to his father but despite continued pressure, the commission maintained its policy that war dead would remain where they were buried alongside their comrades.
"The heartbreaking letters in CWGC’s archive give us an insight into what it was like for those families trying to come to terms with their loss," Mr Fetherston added.
Richard remains buried at Hebuterne Military Cemetery, among fellow members of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade who served and died with him. While his grave is almost 12,000 miles away from the family tomb in Wellington, it will be cared for forever by the gardeners and stonemasons of the CWGC.
The painful search for closure is one of over a thousand archive files now accessible to the public which includes letters, pictures and other papers sent between the commission and the next of kin of First World War dead.
"We are pleased to be able to make this invaluable piece of World War history accessible to a new generation and help deepen our understanding of how the First World War impacted those who were left behind," said Mr Fetherston.
The Commission hopes the online portal and files will give a new generation of researchers and students to understand the impact of losing loved ones during the First World War, including Captain Richard Seddon.
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