Arthur Robert Hinks - Geographical Career

Geographical Career

In 1903, Hinks undertook a course in surveying at the School of Military Engineering in Chatham in Kent. At the time, there was no National Service (conscription) in the United Kingdom, and it is possible that he did the course to gain a profession to support his young family (he had been married for four years, and his son Roger was born in 1903), after eight years in a poorly paid junior post in astronomy. The same year he was promoted to senior assistant at the Cambridge Observatory and appointed secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Hinks gained his first full academic post in 1908, a lectureship in surveying and cartography at the Cambridge School of Geography (part of the University of Cambridge, as was the Observatory) funded by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). In 1911, he was elected a fellow of the Society, becoming assistant secretary in 1912/1913 and succeeding John Scott Keltie as secretary in 1915. As secretary of the RGS, he also acted as editor of the Geographical Journal: he held both posts until his death in 1945. During the First World War, Hinks prepared maps and did other geographical work for the General Staff. Hicks also provided reports on the boundary treaties put in place after the war, and on the implementation of the Treaty of Versailles, particularly the Upper Silesia plebiscite.

Hinks was involved in the organisation of the expeditions to observe the total solar eclipse in May 1919 from Príncipe off the west coast of Africa and from Sobral in Brazil, during which his nemesis from Cambridge, Eddington, would provide one of the first proofs of Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Hink's most controversial role was as joint secretary of the Mount Everest Committee, a joint body of the RGS and the Alpine Club dedicated to organising an ascent of the world's highest mountain. The initial 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition suggested a route to the top from the Tibetan side, and a second expedition was sent out in 1922 to try to reach the summit. The 1922 expedition never made it to the summit, despite three attempts and, on the third attempt led by George Mallory, an avalanche killed seven sherpas. However George Finch and Capt. Geoffrey Bruce set a new altitude record, climbing to 8326 metres (27,316 feet) on the second summit attempt.

Another expedition was organised for 1924. However Hinks vetoed Finch's inclusion on the expedition, despite his altitude record during the 1922 expedition, ostensibly because he was divorced and had accepted money for lectures. The true reason was that Finch was Australian, and Hinks was determined that the first person to reach the summit should be British. Mallory (who had also given paid lectures about the 1922 expedition) initially refused to return to Everest without Finch, but was eventually persuaded by members of the British royal family at Hinks' request. Mallory and Andrew Irvine died during the third attempt on the summit, ending all attempts to climb Mount Everest for several years.

Hinks published two textbooks on cartography and surveying, Map Projections (1912) and Maps and Survey (1913). After the war, he was involved in the development of radio time signals and in geodesy in general, two interests that are very much linked with astronomy.