Thomas Marshall Percy (Hami) Grace was born on 11 July 1890 at Pukawa, Lake Taupo. His maternal grandfather was the Ngati Tuwharetoa Paramount Chief Te Heuheu. His paternal grandfather was The Rev. Thomas Grace, of the Church Missionary Society.
Hami’s father, a civil servant with the Post and Telegraph Department was transferred to Wellington and the family moved to 99 Coromandel Street in Newtown.
Hami and his younger brother William both attended Wellington College. At college Hami excelled in sport. He played for both the First XV rugby team and First XI cricket team which he captained. His figures of 5 for 66 and 5 for 29 against Wanganui Collegiate remain among the best ever bowling figures in this traditional fixture. He was also a member of the college’s shooting team.
On leaving college Hami continued to excel at sport playing club rugby for Wellington College Old Boys and representative rugby for Wellington, the North island and New Zealand Maori touring New Zealand in 1911 and Australia in 1914. Hami was a devoted club player. At the end of one rugby season the WCOB senior A players were discussing what club they each were going to as the team had been relegated. When it came to Hami, the star player, he simply stated that he would be sticking with WCOB! He also played first class cricket for Wellington.
Upon the outbreak of war in 1914, Hami joined the Wellington Regiment. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant under the command of the famous Lieutenant Colonel William Malone.
At this time their was considerable imperial concern about the use of Maori against European forces and most Maori soldiers were used only to provide labour or garrison duties. This had prompted the minister of defence, James Allen, to write to Major-General Sir Alexander Godley, commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, stating:
“Although they are a coloured race I think it would be apparent on their arrival that they are different to the ordinary coloured race.”
As such Hamis commissioning as a second lieutenant in a regular army regiment singles him out as a truly exceptional character. Hami trained in Egypt and fought with the Wellington Regiment at Gallipoli (Where he went ashore on 26 April).
At Quinn’s Post (above ANZAC Cove) Hami a noted marksman formed sniper teams to ‘hunt’ Turkish sniper teams that were at the time causing huge casualties among NZ troops. The NZ ‘counter’ sniper teams were so effective that NZ casualties dropped dramatically and the resultant morale rose.
“Malone assigned this task to his very capable Lieutenant Grace, who was well respected among the men as an accomplished marksman…..within a few weeks the enemy’s sniping had been so completely suppressed that traffic in the valley went uninterrupted throughout the day.”
- Bloody Gallipoli: Richard Stowers
“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
Hami was known for taking a sack full of grenades and sneaking over to the Turkish trenches and causing mayhem by throwing them up and down the trenches. This was a task often given to those with a cricketing background. His actions preceded those of another famous New Zealand 2nd Lieutenant from a later war who with his sack full of grenades crawled his way to the first of his two Victoria Crosses. Hami was awarded a Mentioned in Despatches for his actions attacking an enemy trench on the night of 8 July 1915.
Hami’s accomplishments at this point were considerable. At a time in our history when many doors were still closed to Maori, Hami had attended Wellington College, played representative rugby and cricket for Wellington and been commissioned as an officer in the New Zealand Army.
Sadly Hami Grace was killed during the Wellington Regiment’s legendary assault on Chunuk Bair in August 1915. He survived unscathed the initial advance and was killed by a ‘stray bullet’ during a lull in the battle.
His name is inscribed on the NZ Memorial on Chunuk Bair just below Colonel Malones and alongside the names of 23 other old boys from Wellington College.
He was 25 years of age when he was killed and one can only guess at what further sporting and other honours Hami would have achieved had he not given his life for his country.