John Rodham was born in Newburn, Northumberland on 29 October 1913, the son of John Thomas Rodham (a steel worker) and Anne Rodham (née Harrison). In 1921 he, his widowed father and younger brother Charles Nicholas were lodging with relatives at 43, Boyd Street, Newburn.

John Rodham joined the Royal Navy as a Seaman in 1934 and volunteered for Submarine Service in 1937. He was married to Honor Gatrell of Lordswood, Hampshire, in Southampton in early 1939. At the time the 1939 Register was taken in September 1939 Able Seaman (ST) John and Conor Rodham were lodging at 11, Woodbine Terrace, Blyth, Northumberland.

He is reported to have served in HMS DOLPHIN and the Submarine Depot Ship HMS TITANIA and he was a survivor from HMS PANDORA when it was bombed and sunk at Malta on 1 April 1942. He was later drafted to HMS SPORTSMAN and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (see Supplement to London Gazette dated 15 August 1944) for service in the Mediterranean and in the Aegean sea. He was later drafted to HMS SATYR.

John Rodham is understood to have died at 105, Newbridge Lane, Chesterfield from pulmonary tuberculosis on 4 July 1945. He is commemorated at the Sheffield City Road Crematorium on the Screen Wall Panel 3. There was a son, Gary Rodham. John Rodham’s wife, Honor, later remarried.