How did Hornby come by its name?

Press, 30 August 1978, Page 11

How did Hornby come by its name?

How Hornby came by its name has become something of a puzzle for local historians. For some years the assumpton was that the name came from the village in north Lancashire which boasts a railway station, castle and hail. But this assumption was cast in doubt when one local historian came up with the theory (which was the subject of an article in “The Press” on June 17, 1978) that the name could have come not from a locality in Britain but from a British admia ral. The link seemed to be clear enough because Admiral Hornby had visited the, district in 1870 when, as officer in command of Britain’s Flying Squadron, he attended a race meeting at the Riccarton Racecourse. It seemed a fair supposition that Admiral Hornby would have met, on that occasion, Frederick W. Delamain, a local racehorse owner, who is generally credited with having given Hornby its name.

New evidence has since come to light which bears out this theory. In an article which appeared in the “Hilton Press,” a local paper circulating in Hornby and other areas west and south of Christchurch, P. R. Johnston has managed to account plausibly for the gap in time between Admiral Hornby’s visit to the Riccarton Racecourse in 1870 and the renaming of the Southbridge Junction railway station in 1878. In 1877-1878, Admiral Hornby was back in the news. War had broken out between Russia and Tur* key and Hornby, in command of the Mediterranean fleet, was active in keeping open the Dardanelles and protecting British interests in the eastern Mediterranean without involving Britain in the war. Hornby’s exploits at this time were regularly reported in the Canterbury newspapers. It was, indeed, one month after Hornby had been made a K.C.B. that the new name was given to the Southbridge Juntion station. The

prominence of Admiral Hornby in the news of 1878 gives added reason to think that Delamain might have recalled Hornby’s visit to Canterbury at the beginning of the decade when he suggested the name Hornby for the railway station. There is, however, yet a further complication to the story of how Hornby might have received its name. Mrs R. Wilson of Avonhead has noticed on a road map of Britain that in the northern part of Yorkshire and the southern part of County Durham there are a Hornby, a Sockburn and a Middleton close by each other. This coincidence — for west of Christchurch, Middleton, Sockburn and Hornby are neighbouring stations on the main south line — suggested to her that the names had all been given to the Canterbury townships by someone who came from that locality, which Delamain apparently did not. The solution to the puzzle may be that Delamain suggested Hornby as

a name for Southbridge Junction to the Post and Telegraph Department (for it was strictly to the post office in the railway station that the name was given) and someone in the department (perhaps an anonymous, forgotten clerk) remembering the villages in his native part of England put the names Sockburn and Middleton on the map as well. But this is speculation. The link back, through Delamain, to Admiral Hornby appears still the most plausible theory about how Hornby received its name, but the puzzle is likely to continue to amuse local historians until someone comes up with definite proof.

Above this story is a reproduction of the notice in the “New Zealand Gazette” announcing that the name of the Southbridge Junction railway station was being changed to Hornby. It is this event which is being commemorated next week-end.