John Griffin (rugby union)
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| Birth name | John Griffin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 2 August 1859 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Southampton, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 13 July 1895 (aged 35) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Southampton, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Epsom College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | St Bartholomew's Hospital Edinburgh University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Medical doctor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Griffin (2 August 1859 – 13 July 1895)[1] was an English medical doctor who became an international rugby union forward for Wales despite having no connections to the country.
Griffin was born in Southampton in 1859, the eldest son of Dr. R. W. Waudby Griffin. He was partly educated at St Bartholomew's Hospital before gaining a place at Edinburgh University from which he qualified. During the late 1880s Griffin emigrated to South Africa in an attempt to improve his health, after suffering from hemoptysis.[2] He first spent some time in Pretoria as a locum tenens before gaining a more permanent position in Port Elizabeth, where he set up a practice. After several years his health improved and in 1893 he travelled back to England in charge of small-pox patients on board a steamship. On his return to South Africa it was obvious he was suffering from tuberculosis and his condition worsened. In 1895 he returned to Southampton to spend his last days at his mother's home where he died on 13 July.[3]
