Horne Street

John Horne was born in Bedfordshire, England, in 1865. He was the eldest of nine boys in a family of twelve children.

After Horne left the local village school, he completed a horticultural course at a London nursery. He then worked for the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), at his Sandringham estate.  It was while here that his health suffered as a result of the hothouse nursery work. It might well have been because of this that he decided to immigrate to New Zealand; but before he left the United Kingdom, he managed to publish a much praised essay on co-operative agriculture.

Horne arrived in Wellington in 1890, only staying there for a short time, before moving to Taranaki and settling on an undeveloped block of land at Tarata. He transformed the farm into a valuable dairy unit and was appointed a director of the Tarata Dairy Company.

When he sold his Tarata farm, he turned his attention to a property in Westown. The block fronted Elliot Road (now Tukapa Street), with one boundary being Hurdon cemetery. The nursery and orchard he developed became well known for its high quality plants and tasty fruit.

John Horne died on 19 January, 1953, aged 87, after a lengthy illness. His funeral was held three days later at the Spiritualist Church in Courtenay Street.  He never married and had no relatives in New Zealand, although it was recorded at the time that six of his brothers were living in London.

After his death, Riddick Bros. & Still bought Horne’s block of land, including his house, and subdivided it into nine sections. The cul-de-sac formed as part of the development was named after the former land-owner and well respected nurseryman.

His house, now much altered, still sits facing Tukapa Street, the orchard however has long gone.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.