Sir James Hector (KCMG, FRS) was born on 16 March 1834 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1862 to conduct a three-year geological survey of Otago province. 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. He also assembled a staff of half a dozen men to assist with such tasks as fossil collecting, chemical analysis, and botanical and zoological taxonomy. He became the founder of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, an organisation that in recent times has become GNS Science. He moved to Wellington to supervise the construction of the Colonial Museum, which was to be the Survey's headquarters. This institution has now become the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. 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 man has since. Hector managed the Colony's premier scientific society – the New Zealand Institute – for thirty-five years, and from 1885 was Chancellor of the University of New Zealand. His political influence was underlined by his marriage in 1868 to Maria Georgiana Monro, daughter of the speaker of the House of Representatives. Sir James Hector was knighted in 1887 and died in Lower Hutt in 1907.
Sir James Hector c.1900
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Amongst the many things Sir James Hector is remembered for today is an endangered New Zealand endemic dolphin "Hector's dolphin", Mt Hector in the Tararua Ranges and a small town on the West Coast. The Hector Medal is awarded annually to one outstanding New Zealand scientist in the field of chemical sciences; physical sciences; or mathematical and information sciences.
For a man of such huge influence on New Zealand science, his grave site in Taita cemetery is poorly known and in a sad state unbefitting of his former influence. I stumbled across his grave by chance on 30 March 2015 while geocaching in the area. (hint it is on a ridge crest)
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Sir James Hector gravesite, Taita cemetery, Hutt Valley
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To find the final of this multicache you will need to answer the following questions. There are paths around the grave so need need to walk on or over the gravesite to find the information.
AB = Month that Sir James Hector died
C = 3rd digit of year he founded the Geological Survey of New Zealand (look this up before you go to cemetery)
D = Month minus Day that Lyell Hector died
E = 3rd digit of the year that Joyce Monro Hector died
F = Number of letters in christian name of Sir James Hector's wife
G = Last digit of the year Sir James Hector died
H = 3rd digit of year John Ross Hector died
I = Month that James Bruce Hector died
J = Number of letters in first christian name of the Hector family member who died "Aged 63 years"
Checksum of AB+C+D+E+F+G+H+I+J = 44
Where South 41 AB.CDE East 174 FG.HIJ