Arthur Robert Hinks was born on 26 May 1873 in London. He was educated at Whitgift Grammar School in Croydon and read mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1895, he was appointed demonstrator in practical astronomy in the university and second assistant at the Cambridge Observatory under Sir Robert Ball, serving as chief assistant between 1903 and 1913. In 1908, Hinks accepted the post of Royal Geographical Society lecturer in surveying and cartography at the Cambridge school of geography and the following year was elected secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, serving as vice-president from 1912 to 1913.
In 1913, Hinks was appointed assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, succeeding John Scott Keltie as its secretary two years later and acting as editor of the Geographical Journal, holding both posts for the remainder of his life. He retained his interest in astronomy, giving the annual Gresham lectures in astronomy at London University from 1913 until 1941.
In 1920, he was awarded the CBE and in 1938 received the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He died on 18 April 1945 at Royston, Hertfordshire.
Published work Hints to travellers, volume 2 organization and equipment; scientific observation; health, sickness and injury edited by Arthur Robert Hinks, Royal Geographical Society London (1938) SPRI Library Shelf 910.2(211)
From the guide to the Arthur Hinks collection, 1920-1923, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
