He joined the Birmingham Rivetters' And Finishers' Society and served firstly as its president, then as its secretary.
He left the trade to join the British Army, serving the Worcester Rifle Corps, but soon returned to bootmaking, settling in Stafford.
[3] In Stafford, Sedgwick joined the Amalgamated Society of Cordwainers, but he felt that a new national union was needed, so he worked with Thomas Smith to found the National Union of Boot and Shoe Rivetters and Finishers.
[4] As leader of the union, Sedgwick focused on its role in arbitration, describing its purpose as being a "mediator between employers and workmen in trade disputes".
[6] He retired from paid work in 1896, but chaired munitions tribunals during World War I and continued as a magistrate until his death in 1934 aged 87.