Rea served as acting sergeant in the Suffolk Regiment between 1946 and 1948, and held various Junior hospital posts between 1954 and 1957.

He was research fellow in paediatrics in Ibadan and Lagos in Nigeria from 1962 to 1965, and lecturer in social medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London from 1966 to 1968.

Rea was a member of Amicus, Healthlink Worldwide and the Mary Ward Centre.

He supported the Mother and Child Foundation, the Caroline Walker Trust and was honourable secretary of the National Heart Forum.

[2] In 1951, Rea married Elizabeth Robinson, with whom he had four sons, Matthew James, Daniel William, Quentin Thomas and John Silas Nathaniel.