Harold Hibbert was born in Manchester, England, and earned his B.Sc. (1897), M.Sc. (1900) and D.Sc. (1901) degrees from Victoria College in Manchester. In 1906 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig. From 1899 to 1904, Hibbert taught chemistry at the University College of Wales, and after 1906 became an instructor at Tufts College in Boston. Hibbert also worked as a research chemist at DuPont and Co. (1910-1914), the Mellon Institute (1914-1916) and at Yale University (1916-1919). He was Professor of Chemistry at Yale from 1919 until 1925, when he came to McGill as E.B. Eddy Professor of Cellulose Chemistry. Most of his research was conducted at the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada on cellulose and lignin but he held patents for a wide variety of products (e.g. explosives, antifreeze, organic solvents) and served as a consultant for many types of enterprises ranging from mines to flour mills. He was also McGill's representative to the Pulp and Paper Institute of Canada. He retired in 1943 and passed away two years later.

Thomas Heys was born in Bury, England. He came to Canada sometime after 1861, and settled in Toronto, where he married and worked as a chemist. In the 1880s, he was a professor at the Ontario School of Chemistry and Pharmacy.

Corneille Jean François Heymans (28 March 1892 – 18 July 1968) was a Belgian physiologist. He studied at the Jesuit College of Saint Barbara and then at Ghent University, where he obtained a doctor's degree in 1920. Heymans won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1938 for showing how blood pressure and the oxygen content of the blood are measured by the body and transmitted to the brain.

Edward Osborne Hewett was born on September 25, 1835, in Southsea, Hampshire, England.

He was a British army officer, military engineer, and college commandant. He was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and served in the Crimean War in 1854-1855. After taking courses in military surveying and engineering, Hewett was employed at Dover on the construction of forts. In 1857, he was posted to the West Indies as a commanding engineer. Promoted captain in 1860, he became an assistant instructor at the Royal Military Academy. In 1861, he arrived in British North America, where he was appointed commanding engineer west of Hamilton, Ontario and was in charge of the 18th Company, with headquarters in London, Ontario. He was responsible for selecting military positions and directing surveys for purposes of defence. In 1863, Hewett was posted to Pictou, N.S., and then to Halifax to work on the design and construction of new fortifications. In 1876, he opened the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario and served as its first Commandant until his resignation in 1886. He was responsible for drafting the curriculum and he chose the Royal Military College's motto, "Truth, Duty, Valour". He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) in the 1883 Birthday Honours.

In 1864, he married Catherine Mary Biscoe (1842–1923). He died on June 3, 1897, in Woolwich, Kent, England.