Andrew Sinclair (1794–1861)

Scottish surgeon, naturalist, and colonial administrator. Assistant surgeon, Royal Navy, 1822–32; surgeon, 1835–43. Collected botanical and zoological specimens for the British Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Settled in New Zealand, 1843; colonial secretary, 1844–56; became a member of the legislative council in 1844. Elected a fellow of the Linnean Society, 1857. In 1858, began collecting material for Joseph Dalton Hooker’s Handbook of the New Zealand flora (J. D. Hooker 1864–7). Drowned on Julius von Haast’s geological surveying expedition to the headwaters of the Rangitata river, Canterbury province.