Hami Grace

Thomas Marshall Percy Grace

(Hami Grace)

Hami Grace is a well known New Zealand Maori soldier whose most famous actions were at Gallipoli in 1915.

On 13 August 1914 Hami enrolled in the army, just six days after New Zealand joined Britain in the war. On the 16^th October 1914 he had set sail on the Main Contingent which landed him in Alexandria, Egypt.

From there he was sent to Gallipoli and arrived on the 26^th of April. He was the leader of an elite team of snipers. He recruited the best marksmen from the Wellington Regiment and before dawn they would all go out in groups of two and wait for Turkish snipers to show up. The Turkish snipers at the time were killing 72 soldiers a day, when the men were passing through the valley from the beach (ANZAC Cove) to Quinn’s Post. Hami and his team’s efforts reduced this number to less then ten a day.

“Grace’s snipers, posted throughout the valley, placed a barrier as impenetrable as any earthwork between the traffic in Monash Valley and the Turks whose trenches overlooked it… They were an elite band..’you got that good you could shoot the left eye out of a fly.’"

- Gallipoli, the New Zealand story: Christopher Pugsley

After his success with the Turkish snipers Hami Grace was sent up to Chunk Bair where he died on the 8^th of August 1915 with a stray bullet through his head after surviving the initial advance. He has no known grave and was 25 when he died.

Wellington College and New Zealand Life

Hami Grace was a well accomplished sportsman at Wellington College. He was in the XV rugby team and he was the captain of the XI crick team. He was a great bowler and his figures at the time are some of the best even to this day. Hami Grace was also in the Wellington College Shooting Team at the time.

After leaving Wellington College he continued to play rugby under the WCOB club. He was the star player at the time and showed great devotion to the school and club. When the Senior A team was relegated and players were switching clubs Hami stayed until the outbreak of war.

Before the war, Hami Grace was a civil servant and worked for the Daily Telegraph. He is the son of Lawrence Marshall Grace and Henerieta Kahui Grace. He lived at 99 Coromandel St Newtown.

How Wellington College Prepared its Old Boy’s For War?

From the start of their education Wellington College Old Boys were trained to be good soldiers. From year 9 there was a Cadet Day at Wellington College to train year 9’s on gun and fighting. This training had been going at the college since 1840. The first week of schooling was devoted to war. It was compulsory and you could have cadet training on Tuesday and Thursday weekly if you wanted.

Certificate for bayoneting training at Lyall Bay

Wellington College also prepared an annual camp for cadets as well as training over the school holidays for keen cadets.

The Wellington College role during the war

Wellington College raised morale for the WCOB’s at war. J.P. Firth (the headmaster) aimed to write a personal letter to each individual old boy who enlisted. He was fairly successful and many old boys replied. He also sent letters to the all families of the 222 old boys that died in WWI.

Wellington College felt so much commitment to the war overseas that they arranged many fundraisers. Ones of these was the Belgium fund where they raised over $300,000 in today’s money. They used one of the schools sports grounds to grow potatoes for the fund as well as school dances and baking. Wellington College also raised money to build a memorial hall for the school.

Wellington College Cadets also guarded the wharfs in Wellington Harbor when some boats left for the trenches.

Many teachers also went to war from Wellington College and many old boys returned to the school to make speeches
.