Eric Wilson McMechan was born on 13 August 1910 in Portaferry, Co Down. He was the third child of John Henry McMechan, a farmer and a local magistrate. He studied at the Methodist College and Queen's University in Belfast and there obtained his MB BCh. Moving to London he worked at St Mark's and the

Samuel Anderson Vincent, the younger son of James Vincent, a musician, was born on 13 June 1909 in Belfast. He was educated at Roseland Preparatory School and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution before entering Queen's University. After resident appointments at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Rea

James Armstrong came from a staunchly medical Belfast family but spent very little of his life in his native province. His father John was a surgeon and sometime Member of Council of the RCS Ireland; his mother Maria, née Rowan, was a doctor, as were three of his brothers and his sister. James wa