25 Facts About James Hector

James Hector went on to have a lengthy career as a government employed man of science in New Zealand, and during this period he dominated the colony's scientific institutions in a way that no single person has since.

James Hector was born at 11 Danube Street in Stockbridge, Edinburgh the son of Alexander Hector WS and his wife, Margaret Macrostie.

James Hector attended the Edinburgh Academy from 1844 to 1845.

James Hector joined University of Edinburgh as a medical student and received his medical degree in 1856 at the age of 22.

In 1858, when Palliser's expedition was exploring a mountain pass near the continental divide of the Canadian Rockies, one of James Hector's packhorses fell into the river.

James Hector wrote in his diary of the expedition: "In attempting to recatch my own horse, which had strayed off while we were engaged with the one in the water, he kicked me in the chest".

James Hector's companions, thinking him dead, dug a grave for him and prepared to put him in.

Dr James Hector must have been unconscious for at least two hours when Sutherland yelled for us to come up; he was now conscious but in great pain.

James Hector asked for his kit and directed me to prepare some medicine that would ease the pain.

James Hector readily agreed that it would be the proper thing to do.

James Hector travelled throughout the south of New Zealand's South Island to assess its potential for settlement and to record the location of useful minerals.

James Hector assembled a staff of half a dozen men to assist with such tasks as fossil collecting, chemical analysis, and botanical and zoological taxonomy.

In 1865 James Hector was appointed to found the Geological Survey of New Zealand, and he moved to Wellington to supervise the construction of the Colonial Museum, which was to be the Survey's headquarters.

James Hector was the first manager of the Wellington Botanic Gardens on their opening in 1869.

James Hector went on to develop the Gardens with the New Zealand Institute for 22 years.

James Hector was the first manager of the Wellington Botanic Gardens on their opening in 1869, developing the gardens with the New Zealand Institute for 22 years.

In 1902, for example, the ethnographer Elsdon Best wrote to Augustus Hamilton, the future director of the Colonial Museum, to state that James Hector should be forced from office and that they should put a live man in his place.

James Hector retired in 1903, after four decades at the centre of organised science in New Zealand.

James Hector was president of the Royal Society of New Zealand between 1906 and 1907; preceded by Frederick Hutton and followed by George Malcolm Thomson.

James Hector died in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, in 1907, and was buried at Taita Cemetery.

James Hector married Maria Georgiana Monro at Nelson on 30 December 1868, three years after moving to Wellington.

James Hector was the daughter of politician David Monro, who was at the time the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

James Hector's brother was Charles John Monro, who first introduced Rugby to New Zealand.

James Hector corresponded with the botanist Joseph Hooker in London, and looked after two of Hooker's sons when they came to New Zealand.

In 1937, several members of James Hector's family donated 16 medals awarded to him during his career to the Dominion Museum, later to become Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.