During the conflicts that occurred in New Zealand between 1847 and 1870, Joseph Osbertus Hamley was a key player in providing Logistical support to the Imperial and Colonial Forces. Although Hamley played a significant role in supporting the Imperial and Colonial Forces, he has faded into obscurity. However, Hamley’s legacy is a collection of paintings that record various landscapes that Hamley observed while in the field.
Hamley had joined the Ordnance Department as an 18-year-old in 1838 and was appointed to the Ordnance Department in Sydney. Transferred to New Zealand in 1847, Hamley was appointed Deputy Ordnance Storekeeper in Wellington and participated in the Hutt Valley and Wanganui campaigns. In 1857, he was appointed Deputy Superintendent of Stores, head of the Imperial Army’s Military Store Department.[1]
The Military Store Department is an organisation whose contribution to the campaigns of the 1860s has been overshadowed by the much larger and more well-known Commissariat, but existing records show that Hamley was well regarded and provided effective leadership of the Military Store Department. Hamley was no military bureaucrat but a man of action who, when fires threatened both Wellington and Auckland, played a key role in leading the firefighting efforts. [2] [3] On one occasion in Wellington, Hamley risked his own life, saving the life of a girl who had fallen into Wellington Harbour.[4] A keen sportsman, Hamley was a cricket player and established the Hamley Shooting Club and Swimming Baths in Auckland.
After thirty-two years of overseas service, of which twenty-three had been spent in New Zealand, and one of the last Imperial Officers remaining in New Zealand, Hamley returned to England in 1870.[5] Hamley retired as a Major-General in 1880 after more than 42 years of service and died on 5 July 1911.
A keen painter and sketch artist, Hamley produced over fifty-one watercolours of various scenes while on campaign in various parts of New Zealand. Providing a valuable record of early New Zealand, this collection now resides in the Turnbull Library at Wellington.
Notes
[1] Una Platts, Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists : A Guide & Handbook (Christchurch, N.Z. : Avon Fine Prints, 1980, 1980), Bibliographies, Non-fiction, Collective biography, 117.
[2] “Accident,” Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVI, Issue 1204, , 15 March 1859.
[3] “Fire in Wyndham Street,” New Zealander, Volume XIX, Issue 1944, Page 2, 12 August 1863.
[4] “Local Intelligence,” Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1328, , 2 March 1859
[5] “Projected Departure of Mr Hamley,” Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3017, 9 July 1870.
