Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Home and family

Topic

Overview

Family matters

Three years after he moved to Wellington, Hector married Maria Georgiana Monro, daughter of politician David Monro, who was at the time the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

James and Georgiana Hector were to have eight children: Barclay, Charles Monro, Constance Margaret, David Carmichael, Douglas, Lyell, Georgina, and Marjorie.

Ratanui

The photographs here are from a family album of their home and environs. The Hectors lived in a cottage next to the museum in town until the 1880s. In November 1881 Hector purchased a property called Ratanui at Korokoro. They lived here until just a few months before Hector's death in 1907.

Gift to the museum

In 1937, several members of the family donated 16 medals awarded to Hector. These form the core of the museum's collection of objects that help to tell the story of his life.