Sunday 11 May 2014

3046 Private Hugh CONDRON (1890 – 1916)

For my earlier postings about the Battle of the Somme, including the Battle of Pozières, click here.


Private Hugh CONDRON (service no. 3046) was killed in action on 18 August 1916 in the fight for Pozières during the Battle of the Somme.

Hugh Hume CONDRON was born in Boorhaman, Victoria, Australia, in 1890. He was the son of John CONDRON and Anne Maria WRIGHT.  He married Maud Agnes HAMILL in 1912. The couple had three children: Harold, Alan Thomas and Gladys Evelyn. Hugh enlisted on Jul 27, 1915, in Melbourne. After first being assigned to the 4th Depot Battalion, he was eventually transferred to the 8th Battalion, Australian Infantry (Australian Imperial Force - AIF).

Hugh's father was John CONDRON, who was born about 1835 and died in 1908 in Wangaratta, Victoria. John married Anne Maria WRIGHT in 1864 and the couple had a number of children, including Isabela (born 1871), Elizabeth (1873), William (1876), Robert (1879), George (1881), Henry (1884), James (1887), Hugh Hume (1890) and Harold Reginald (1893). All of the above children were born in Wangaratta, Victoria, except for Isabella who was born in Oxley, Victoria. According to one of my correspondents, the couple also had children Mary Agnus (1866) and John Thomas (1869), both born in Oxley. The report of John CONDRON's death in the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (November 20, 1908) states, "Mr. John Condron, aged 73 years, died at his residence in Templeton Street. The deceased served as a gunner in the Indian mutiny." The Indian mutiny  took place in 1857.

Hugh's grandparents were Thomas and Elizabeth CONDRON. According to various online family trees, this couple are the same Thomas and Eliza (née McGOVERN) CONDRON who migrated from Co. Cavan, Ireland, and about whom I have blogged previously.

Hugh CONDRON is memorialized on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, in northern France.


For other blog posts about CONDR*Ns in the First World War, click on "First World War" in the Labels list on the right of the blog web page. Comments and corrections welcome, either by leaving a comment below or by email to me: CONDRAN[AT]ONE-NAME.ORG .  I would particularly like to receive firm evidence that John CONDRON is indeed the son of Thomas and Eliza (née McGOVERN) CONDRON.