The Carrolls are rooted in Clonea as far back as the latter part of the 18th century, if indeed not before that.
Thomas Carroll married Mary O’Connor she was daughter of Denis O ‘Connor and Johanna Meany they had eleven Children.
One of those children was Norah, whose name is inscribed on this tablet, went on to marry and indeed rear a most extraordinary family. Born in 1884. She was educated at the Loretta Convent, Fermoy. At age 19, she was working in the County and Fever hospitals in Cork, where she was training to be a nurse. She next went to work in England and in 1911 she was sister in charge of the casualty department at Cheltenham General Hospital. She was 27 years old. It was here that she met her future husband, Henry. J. Windsor. A young Doctor, who was to distinguish himself in the field of medicine.
In order to further his career, Henry left for London. Here he worked at Queen Mary’s hospital East London, and at the West London Hospital, where he was resident surgical officer. It did not take the love-struck doctor too long to arrange an appointment for his future wife in London. She joined Henry at Queen Mary’s where she was appointed sister-in-charge of the outpatients.
The couple were married in 1913 at Kensington London. By 1914, Henry had emigrated to Australia, and in 1915 Norah, or “Biddy”, as he called her, joined him there with the couple’s first-born Harry Matthew.
The decision to choose Australia for their new beginning was most certainly swayed by Biddy. Her Uncle Patrick, was Bishop of Armidale, her sister was a nun there and other members of this extended family worked in the religious life there. This then was the first step for a family that would prove to be as remarkable as they were humble. The Windsor’s would become a high profile family in the land of their adoption. Henry and Biddy, or Nancy as she was also called began a journey that would prove to be as challenging as it was rewarding.
From his first posting as a locum in New South Wales in 1914, up until his death in 1976, he would collect the highest accolades in his profession that this New World had to offer. By 1923, he was a member of the medical board of Queensland. More badges of merit were collected along the road to prominence, among them: honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of London, honorary fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, and a papal knighthood from Pope Pious XII.
Harry was the firstborn of the Windsor’s and the only one to be born in Ireland. He was born in Cork 1n 1914. Shortly after, he would travel with his mother to Australia. By 1938, he was a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery at Sidney University. He represented “New South Wales” in Rugby Union, and served with the Australian Imperial Forces in World War II. After the War Harry went to England. Here he trained in thoracic surgery. By 1950, he was back in Australia where he was appointed cardiothoracic surgeon to St Vincent’s Hospita,l Sidney, and to the Repatriation Hospital, Concord. And in 1968, the firstborn of Norah (Biddy) O’Connor from Knock, Clonea, carried out the first heart transplant Operation in Australia.
Harry and his wife Imelda Burfitt had six children.The memoirs of Harry Windsor were published in 1988 ,titled “Heart of the Surgeon. Harry was deeply involved in the planning and construction of the Thoracic Unit at St Vincent’s Hospital, when completed the unit was unofficially known as “Windsor Castle”.
Morgan Francis Windsor.
Morgan Francis was born in 1916. He too would follow in his fathers footsteps, and like his brother Harry, would distinguish himself in the field of medicine. His profile runs like a replica of his brothers.
· 1937. Bachelor of Arts, University of Queensland.
· 1941. Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Sidney University.
· 1943 - 46. Australian Imperial Forces in World War II.
· 1945 Master of Surgery. Sydney.
· 1951. First Thoracic Surgeon to all Brisbane Metropolitan Hospitals.
· 1985. Clinical Tutor in Surgery to Mater, Princess Alexandra, and Repatriation Hospitals, Brisbane.
Morgan married Annette Moir in London 1958. They have three children.
Gerard was born on the 15.10.1921. He joined the Royal Australian Air force in 1940. As a trainee pilot, Gerard’s life would be a short one. He was a pilot officer of a Beaufighter aircraft and was killed in action over the North Sea on the 25..5. 1942. He was just 21 years old. His name can be found enshrined at the National War Memorial, Canberra, A.C.T. also at St Clement’s Dane’s RAF church, London. Gerards name is also enshrined in the Runnymede War Memorial, Surrey. This memorial commemorates the 20.000 Allied Airmen of World War II, who have no grave.
Clem Windsor is the youngest of the Windsor Clan. He was born in 1923, at Brisbane. In 1946 he was a resident medical officer at the Mater Hospitals Brisbane. Clem represented Queensland in Rugby Union. In 1947, he played Australian rugby union V New Zealand. He was also a member of the Wallaby Squad that toured the British Isles. France, Canada and America in 1947/48. In 1949, he worked in England, holding surgical posts at, Surrey, Sussex and Leicestershire. He married Patricia Lee in Lincolnshire England in 1953. The couple had nine children. That same year Clem and his wife were back in Brisbane; here he took up the post of gastric surgeon at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane. He was also Visiting Surgeon and gastric endoscopist to the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane. From 1983 to 1987, he was clinical warden, at the University Department of surgery at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. He was also coordinator of postgraduate surgical training at the same Hospital.
Clem Windsor was part of the surgical/medical unit that worked in Bien Hoa, 20 miles north east of Saigon, one of the Vietnamese centres involved in the Australian Governments Aid programme. Am amazing family by all accounts.
(c) Eddie Cantwell
