Father and son--a tale of two cities.

I WOULD like to interest you for a short time tonight in the lives of two men father and son. Their combined lives spanned last century the father was born in 1800 and the son died in 1901. The father's work was for the most part done in Belfast whilst the most fruitful period of the son's life was spent in London so in some ways it is a 'Tale of Two Cities'. The father was a physician, the son a surgeon, and both held high office in this society and both were on the staff of the Belfast General Hospital later the Belfast Royal Hospital and now the Royal Victoria Hospital. Both were eccentric, or at least unusual, with their genes perhaps leading them in slightly different directions. The son's portrait you have all studied many times in the great hall of the University, as sitting at an examination you chewed your pen and hoped for inspiration from it. The father's and son's busts on the other hand you should have seen as they have been on view for forty years in a public place not often visited. I wonder how many have seen them? Henry MacCormac was born in 1800. It has never been possible to trace the exact record of his birth in the parish register. It has been said that the page was torn out for a very interesting reason that I cannot mention here. Another reason, possibly more likely, is that his birth was probably in the register of Clonfaecle Parish Church, Co. Armagh, and it is known that this register was destroyed in Dublin during the "troubles" of 1922. Henry's grandfather was a certain Cornelius MacCormac. He was a high ranking naval officer and he fell overboard and was drowned when straining after his "gold laced hat" which had been tossed overboard by the spanker boom; although the hat was retrieved Cornelius' body was never recovered. His grandmother also died at sea in perhaps a less exotic fashion as she was travelling from England to Ireland in a pacquet boat. Henry was born in Carnan in the County of Armagh. He describes his grandfather's house with a mill nearby, and seeing the bags of corn being carried away.