Satellite imagery clearly shows how land reclamation to the North of Cabragh House has moved the shoreline considerably northwards from when the house was originally built on the shores of the Nelson Inlet.
Ownership History
According to provincial records, on 7 August 1901, John Pearson Hornsby, a Nelson accountant, purchased land in Weka Street but then known as 36 and 38 Weka Street respectively. Originally, it seems, the larger two-storey house at 36 was the dwelling and residence of Mr Hornsby and his daughters, Ruth & Janetta”. Municipal drain layer plans and sheets also indicate a probable date of erection for both houses in early 1897. The private school business was successful in provincial Nelson - especially for people with the right qualifications. An advertisement in the Nelson Streets Directory indicates that Miss Jannetta M Hornsby B.A., N.Z.U., A.R.C.M. also had rooms at 50 Trafalgar Street as a teacher of pianoforte, theory, singing, elocution and languages as well as being Principal of Cabragh House School. However, a search of the deeds reveals that none of the sisters Hornsby ever owned legal title to either the School or Dwelling House located at either 36 or 38 Weka Street. In February 1908, John Hornsby mortgaged 38 Weka Street for government advances for unknown purposes. The money could have been put towards improvements for both structures. Such improvements may have included a two-storey porch and bracketed awnings added to Amber House sometime between 1906 and 1920. In 1918, Amber House was used exclusively as classrooms and boarding accommodation and Cabragh House became a residence.
School
The Amber House was known as Cabragh House School during the first decades of the twentieth century, not to be confused with the dwelling known as the Cabragh House next door. On 28 April 1919 John Hornsby died at his residence in Weka Street, aged 85 years. The Obituary in The Colonist the next day included the following: "Prior to coming to New Zealand about 25 years ago, he held several important positions on the Irish railways. Although he never took much interest in civic affairs, he was a keen advocate of the through freights system, on the subject of which he contributed several valuable articles. His daughters conducted the Cabragh House School successfully for many years." In October of that year a Certificate of Addendum was issued. The Public Trustee conveyed a portion of the property for private sale. Now the renumbered 46 and 48 Weka Street were passed to daughter Charlotte, who sold it to Henry Canning in 1928. The last listing for Cabragh House School in Lucas's Nelson Almanac is for 1927 and there is no entry for the School in the 1928 Post Office Directory. Certainly by 1928 Cabragh House School was no longer operating as a school, its scholastic function and commercial viability having been rendered superfluous by the steady growth of, what is now called, Nelson Central School.
Etymology
The word Cabragh probably has Irish or other Gaelic roots due to the Hornsby's Irish origins and may be an unorthodox spelling of Gabragh meaning an area of rough grazing.
