Second Lieutenant Thomas Grace - rugby for New Zealand Maori teams

liverpool annie · Jun 13, 2009

Some Maori had been at Gallipoli from the beginning, having enlisted in the provincial infantry battalions. One such man was Second Lieutenant Thomas (Hami) Grace of the Wellington Battalion.

An old boy of Wellington College, Grace was a talented sportsman. He played rugby for the New Zealand Maori teams that toured New Zealand in 1911 and Australia in 1914. A noted marksman, he was an effective sniper at Gallipoli. He was killed on 8 August as the Wellington Battalion seized the crucial heights of Chunuk Bair

In Memory of
Second Lieutenant THOS MARSHALL PERCY GRACE

10/127, Wellington Regiment, N.Z.E.F.
who died age 25
on 08 August 1915
Son of Lawrence Marshall Grace and Henerieta Kahui Grace, of 50, Russell Terrace, Wellington. Native of Pukawa, Lake Taupo.

Remembered with honour
CHUNUK BAIR (NEW ZEALAND) MEMORIAL

liverpool annie · Jun 13, 2009

GRACE
2nd Lieutenant Thomas Mashall Percy (Mentioned in despatches).

No. 10/127, 9th (Hawke's Bay) Coy., Wellington Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force (enlisted as Private).

Born 11th July 1890, in Pukawa, Lake Taupo, New Zealand
[Birth cert. 1891 215 [Te Awamutu dist. Mar qtr], NZ]

Educated: Blenheim Borough School, Marlborough High School, Wellington College 1904-5, NZ.

Single; Civil servant, Post & Telegraph Department, of 99 Coromandel Street, Wellington, New Zealand.

Next Of Kin: Father; Lawrence Marshall Grace, of Government Buildings / Russell Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand.

Killed in action
8th August 1915
on Chunuk Bair, northern Anzac sector
Aged 25

9th (Hawkes Bay) Company, Wellington Battalion, NZEF

Kia Toa
(Be Brave)

No Known Grave

Name commemorated on the Chunuk Bair memorial, Anzac

* Snippets ........

Father's address also given as: Government Buildings, Wellington, NZ. Casualty List (Canterbury Times 25 Aug 1915 p29). 2nd son. Father was Parliamentary Native Interpreter. Lt. Grace was a member of Parata's Maori rugby team which toured Australia in 1912. Left NZ as a sergeant. Commissioned at the front. (Canterbury Times 25 Aug 1915 p32).

'Lieut. Thomas Marshall Grace, who is reported as having been killed on August 8, was the son of Mr. Lawrence M. Grace, the well-known Maori interpreter, and an authority on most subjects appertaining to the Maori people. Lieut. Grace, who was about 25 years of age, was a member of the staff of the accountants' branch of the Post Office, Wellington, where he was held in the greatest esteem. He was educated at the Wellington College, and was subsequently a skilful and prominent member of the Old Boys' Cricket and Football Clubs, until he joined the Wellington Club, in which he distinguished himself as a sound three-quarter back. He was a B representative footballer in 1910, and the following year was a member of the A team. In 1912 he visited Australia as a member of Parata's Native team. His death will be deeply deplored, not only in Wellington, but in Taupo and other parts of New Zealand where he has relatives.' (The Dominion 18 Aug 1915 p6).

Promoted 2nd Lieutenant 29 May 1915. (Statement of Services).

Uncle; Ven Archdeacon Grace of Blenheim. Joined as Private; promoted Sergeant at Trentham camp, educated Blenheim Borough School, Marlborough High School, Wellington College. (Marlborough Express, 17 Aug 1915 p5). Nickname 'Hamie'. (Marlborough Express, 14 Jun 1915 p2).

Cleared Monash Valley of enemy snipers: 'At the beginning of June a step had been taken to deal with the sniping in Monash Valley. When the New Zealand brigade arrived, traffic up the gully had at times been impossible in daylight. Malone, then at Courtney's, selected a well-known sportsman in his battalion, Lieutenant Grace, to organise the local snipers for the purpose of subduing this fire, and a few days later this officer was placed by Colonel Chauvel in charge of a detachment of picked riflemen, who were to be responsible for the general safety in Monash Valley. Placing these men in pairs in concealed positions about the valley, Grace began systematically to mark down and shoot the Turkish snipers at its head. ...Within a few weeks the enemy's sniping had been so completely suppressed that traffic in the valley went uninterrupted throughout the day.' (Bean V2 p248, 249, 250).

'Until the New Zealanders occupied Monash Gully there used to be 30 to 40 Australians 'Potted' daily. This was soon put a stop to. Snipers were organised, with Lieutenant Grace, a Trentham man, in command. They had their regular 'pot-holes,' two in each, with a telescope. That did the trick. I found the mounted boys were extremely good, especially the Auckland Mounted Rifles.' (Extract from letter from Captain J.A. Wallingford to Major M. Atkinson of Auckland, dated London 17 October, in The Dominion 10 Dec 1915 p6).

Killed in the attack on Chunuk Bair. The Wellington Battalion was holding a line on Rhododendron Ridge, just below the crest of Chunuk Bair, where it was waiting for reinforcement by the Auckland Mounted Rifles, also engaged in heavy fighting: 'While this reinforcement had been making its slow and difficult advance, the Wellington Battalion had for hours been engaged in one of the most desperate struggles ever fought by Anzac troops. The solitary machine-gun had been served until all its crew were dead or wounded. There were no bombs, and for rifle ammunition the troops had to rely on what each man had carried and what they could get from the dead. ...for all practical purposes Wellington had been cut off. The troops were weary almost to exhaustion ...shortly after the arrival of the Auckland Mounted Rifles there began a very violent bombardment of the slope by Turkish batteries firing from the south. ...It appears to have been followed by a succession of attacks - hand grenades coming over fifty at a time, the enemy getting out of their trenches and advancing with officers at their head, the New Zealanders shooting them as they rose. This effort of the enemy, like its predecessors, was beaten back. ...Of the 760 of the Wellington Battalion who had captured the height that morning, there came out only 70 unwounded or slightly wounded men. Throughout that day not one had dreamed of leaving his post. Their uniforms were torn, their knees broken. They had had no water since the morning; they could only talk in whispers; their eyes were sunken; their knees trembled; some broke down and cried like children.' (Bean V2 p677, 678, 679 quoted).

'As darkness settled on Chunuk Bair, numbers of seriously wounded men, who had been unable to move during daylight on account of the heavy fire, began to make their way down the hill to the dressing station. The stretcher-bearers came out from the Apex position and, working magnificently all night, were able to remove a great number of wounded too badly hit to walk. Before midnight, the remnants of the Wellington Regiment were relieved in the front line and returned to the Apex position.
Colonel Malone had been killed and also Captain L.S. McLernon, Commanding Hawkes Bay Company, Lieutenants T.M.P. Grace and T.A. Davidson, while scores of gallant men had been struck down.' (Cunningham p76).
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