John Rhys Condon, bsc mb bch (Wales),
frcp
Physician
(ABGS 1944 – 1951)
John Rhys Condon
John Rhys Condon became a consultant physician at the Greenwich Hospital, in London.
He was the son of Ann Mary, née Price, and John, (Jack), Condon1 a long-established Aberdare undertaker. The family lived at 95 Gadlys Road, a large, detached house on the corner of Gadlys Road and Elm Grove. John was born on 24th December 1932 and had a sister Alice Mary who was four years his senior.
He entered Aberdare Boys County School in 1944 having received his elementary education at St Margaret’s Roman Catholic School in Glannant Street. Little is known about his activities in his schooldays other than he kept rabbits and entered them in local Fur Fanciers’ competitions. He took his CWB School Certificate examinations in 1948 and passed with very good grades in eight subjects. Three years later in 1951 he sat the very first GCE Advanced Level examinations, and gained passes in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology, which enabled him to proceed to medical school.
The local press reported various examinations he had successfully passed at the Welsh National School of Medicine at Cardiff during the mid-1950s. Then in 1957 came news of the award of MB, BCh. His registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) followed on January 1st, 1958.
The married couple
at St Joseph's
Later in September 1958, he married Margaret, (Peggy), Price2 at St Joseph’s R.C. Church in Monk Street Aberdare. The couple went on to have three sons and a daughter.
Soon after, the local press mentioned him in relation to working at Bridgend and Llandough Hospitals, as well as Cardiff Royal Infirmary. However, from 1960 to 1963 John undertook National Service as a flight lieutenant in the department of pathology in the Royal Air Force, including being stationed in Cyprus.
In 1965 he attained membership of the Royal College of Physicians, MRCP, when he was Registrar at St James Hospital at Balham, London.
John and Peggy moved to London, and from 1966 to 1968 John was a registrar at Westminster Hospital in London, followed by senior registrar at St George’s Hospital from 1968 to 1972.
In 1975 John became consultant physician at Brook General Hospital in Woolwich, London and he later became a consultant physician at Greenwich Hospital.
John took a particular interest in Paget’s disease, a disorder of bone tissue. This interest generated several publications in the BMJ of the 1970s concerning the disease and its treatment. In 1980 John became a Fellow of the Royal College, FRCP.
Dr Condon died aged 86 on 31 August 2019, at Upper Norwood in London. Peggy, his wife, died 30 June 2023 at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.
Footnotes
- John Condon, (1899–1970), was a well-known undertaker. He was the son of David Condon, (1873–1931), who was a carpenter turned undertaker of 96 Gadlys Road, Aberdare. Mr Condon senior was a governor of the Catholic school in the town.
- Margaret (Peggy) Price attended Aberdare Girls County Grammar School from 1946 sitting her GCE O-levels in 1951, three years later than her future husband. Peggy was brought up at 3B Graig Street, Foundry Town, Aberdare. Her younger brother was the late John Price of Llwydcoed. Peggy and John were the children of Margaret Laura, (née O’Reilly), (1907–1993) and Edgar John Price, (1902–1976), a groundsman at Aberdare Park.
Acknowledgements
- The Royal College of Physicians, ‘Obituaries and Biographies of Fellows’ was
indispensable in writing this biographical sketch:
https://history.rcp.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians
- Numerous articles in archived copies of The Aberdare Leader.
CR, August 2026