Information about a selection
of members of the family currently living
in England and Australia
A brief note about how this part
of the Donnan family ended up back in the UK about 100 years after
Stuart's great-grandfather emigrated from England to Australia is below on this page
here. Known relevant Donnan family
history is
here.
Stuart's father
Paul Donnan died in 2001 aged 95, having lived in Sydney all his life.
Stuart's mother Dot (Doris) Donnan
moved to Bowral, 100 km south of Sydney, after Paul died. . She celebrated her 100th birthday in good health on 1st March 2006 (making a great speech).
Having attained 103 she had to move to a nursing home for the first time in mid-2009. She died peacefully there 4 days after her 104th birthday, on 5 March 2010. Details are in
Family
past.
Stuart's sister
Delle (Dorelle) and her husband Vic Roberts also live near Sydney and
can be
contacted
here. Their 3 children live with their families near Sydney.
Beryl's only
sibling, her
sister Val
(Valma) lives in Queensland with
her husband (Stanley) Neville Willson. Their 2 children live with their
families in Canberra
and in Queensland. Beryl's father died in 1966 and her mother in 1981
(see
Family past).
Stuart and Beryl's two children were born in London.
Mike (Michael) is a GP in Southampton with his wife Annie and children
Lucy and Ben. Contact Mike via our
home page.
Ali (Alison) is a GP in Nottingham with her husband Hugh Walsh and 2
daughters, Thea and Rowan. Contact Ali via our
home
page.
Up to the present we have not found any
related Donnans in the UK
although there are a few Donnans in the phonebooks now - more than in
the 1960s and 1970s. There are many in Australia. We have
had some contact with distant relatives in France (from the
Briot connection of Stuart's father). Some more details are given
in
Family past.
There is a major Donnan
family website in the USA (donnans.org - it used to be donnan.org) here. (It
should open in a new window.)
A brief
note about how this part
of the Donnan family ended up back in the UK about 100 years after
Stuart's great-grandfather emigrated from England to Australia
The short answer is that the National
Health Service in general and 'public health' in particular attracted
Stuart and drew him (back) to England. This was combined with the
attractions and advantages for all the family in what one might call
"cultural" aspects of living in various parts of England and near
Europe.
Stuart Donnan
was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1940. After primary school in
Earlwood (where his best friend in 6th class was John Howard, now Prime
Minister of Australia) he went to Shore School and then the Faculty of
Medicine at Sydney University, graduating at the end of 1962.
After a
year as Junior Resident Medical Officer (i.e. house jobs) at Sydney
Hospital he married
Beryl in Sydney.
Beryl Sims was born
in Sydney in 1937. After secondary school at Fort Street she took
an Arts degree at Sydney University, graduating at the end of
1956. After several years of secondary school teaching, including
Queenwood and MLC Burwood, and an international trip with her mother in
1958 (including London) she worked for Scripture Union in Western
Australia during 1962 and 1963, returning to Sydney to marry Stuart in
early 1964. (They had met at a CSSM in Toowoon Bay, north of
Sydney.)
After an SRMO/SHO year and a surgical registrar year at Sydney
Hospital, Stuart took Beryl to
London
where he took the specialist surgical exams (FRCS). After nearly
3 years (during which time Mike was born, at the Hammersmith Hospital)
they returned to Australia where Stuart took the Australian surgical
exams (FRACS). It was not an easy year, with Beryl unwell and losing a
baby, and when at the end of the year Stuart was offered a job at
Bart's Hospital they took off back to London at the start of
1970. Alison was born, also at the Hammersmith Hospital, a year
later.
After some moderately productive research as a Lecturer in Surgery at
Bart's and then Guy's, Stuart became involved in the provision of
'casualty' services (i.e. A&E or ER) and spent a lot of time
outside the hospital with social workers. From this arose the
opportunity of a bursary to take a 2 year MSc in 'Social Medicine' at
the London School of Hygiene. This led to Stuart's first
full-time academic appointment, at the new Southampton Medical School, in what
was called Clinical Epidemiology and Community Medicine (i.e. Public
Health) and he also worked part-time in A&E at the hospital.
We bought our first house in Southampton in 1975, and all the family
made many lasting friendships. Stuart was then appointed
Foundation Professor and Chair of Community Medicine at The Chinese
University of Hong Kong in
1981. Beryl taught at DGS and Mike and Ali both took "O" level school
exams, returning to Southampton (Mike after 2 years, Ali after 6) for
the final 2 years of high school. Mike then went to Southampton
Medical School, and Beryl and Stuart returned to the UK in 1990 when
Ali was beginning at Nottingham Medical School. All this time the
family had a house in Southampton and visited Mike, the house and
friends regularly. (So both work and the family were the magnets back
to the UK then.)
Stuart was Professor and Head of Epidemiology and Public Health at Manchester Medical School until 1997
when he became Emeritus, and he and Beryl returned to London for Stuart to work with the
NHS. After two-and-a-half years Beryl suffered an embolic stroke
(from atrial flutter/fibrillation) and Stuart eventually had to give up
work at the end of 2000. They moved from their London apartment
to live permanently in what had been their country escape on the sea
(the
English Channel) in West Sussex.
After 4 years there, Beryl though it was time to move back to Southampton, which felt and feels
like 'home'.
Stuart's
great-grandfather John Donnan was born in Baslow, Derbyshire, in about
1840 and migrated to Sydney before his marriage there in about 1870
(details
here). So Stuart reversed
the journey (with various comings-and-goings) about 100 years later.
LOCATIONS AND WORK FOR BERYL AND
STUART - PAST AND PRESENT
We were born, educated to first degree level, and married
(in 1964) in Sydney, Australia. We then moved to London (1966-1968),
returned to
Sydney (1969) and went back to London (1970-75). After
Southampton, UK, (1975-1981) we were in Hong Kong (1981-1990) and then
moved to Manchester (1990-1997). We were in London (1997-2000) until
Beryl suffered the stroke when we moved to our recently purchased
holiday house in Rustington, West Sussex, UK, (2000-2004). We then
returned to Southampton (2005 to the present).
Beryl, after University in Sydney,
taught English and History at
secondary schools in Sydney and London
and later in Hong Kong.
She trained in personnel management and worked
as a Parish
administrator in Southampton and then as a support worker
in
continuing ministerial development in Manchester, and studied
feminist theology there.
>Stuart, after medical school at Sydney
University, worked in hospitals
in Sydney and London. After further
study at the London School of
Hygiene he then worked at
Universities in Southampton, Hong Kong
and Manchester with honorary NHS
(or HK government) posts, and
finally full-time NHS in London before
having to stop work early to
care for Beryl.
He is Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in The
University of Manchester, UK.
Beryl was on the board of
Shared
Interest for many
years, and
worked as a volunteer in the office of
Jubilee
2000 in London.
Stuart was for several years a Trustee and
then
Chair of the Trustees
of the
Borough
Market in London, having to resign when Beryl
suffered the stroke.