Born in Garvoc, Victoria, he was educated at Horsham before moving to Western Australia during the gold rush to become a miner, and subsequently became a farmer at Tammin.

[2] In May 1898, Carroll moved to Western Australia,[2] initially living in Fremantle where he worked as a commercial traveller.

In 1903 he was nearly killed in an accident in the Perseverance mine at Boulder, "when a rope snapped and he was buried in a vat of crushed ore".

[4] He first stood for parliament at the 1917 Western Australian state election, unsuccessfully contesting the Legislative Assembly seat of Avon.

[2] He was cremated in Sydney, with his ashes sent to Western Australia and scattered by plane over Perth Water.