Amelia Horne

Signed family name

Horne

Signed given name

Amelia

Given address

Cutten Street

Sheet number

Town/Suburb

South Dunedin

City/Region

Dunedin

Notes

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Amelia Henrietta Sprague was born about 1828 in Exeter, Devon, England – daughter of John Sprague and Elizabeth Amelia Hewson.

In 1848 Amelia married William Horne, a tailor. They lived in Lambeth, Surrey until 1874 when they, with nine children, arrived in Otago on the Surat.

The Surat hit a rock off the Catlins Coast en route to Port Chalmers at 10pm on New Years Eve 1873. When the ship started to take on water it was run aground at the mouth of the Catlins River where the passengers were taken off the ship in nothing but their nightclothes.

The contents of the ship, including the passengers’ luggage, were auctioned. After protests the 'Dunedin City Council paid for the luggage and gave it to the passengers, but after more than three months soaked in mud and sand it was not in good condition.'

Amelia died on 5 August 1899 and William died in 1908. They are buried together in the Southern Cemetery.