Ian Grant Collection - Artefact Unpacked — National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy

Ordinary Seaman Ian William Grant served in the Royal Navy Ship HMS Achilles during the Battle of the River Plate. By 13 December 1939, the German Cruiser Admiral Graf Spee had been cornered by Achilles, along with Royal Navy vessels HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax.

Graf Spee fired on Achilles, and shrapnel from the blast hit the young Ordinary Seaman. Ian Grant was just eighteen years old.

“…he was a fine, manly lad, whose bright and happy nature endeared himself to all his teachers and school fellows.”

John McMullan, Headmaster of The Tainui School, to Rozel Thomas, 17 December 1939.

“May your great sorrow be tempered with a justifiable pride in the fact that he has laid down his life for a great cause, & that you can attach these three names to his name K.I.A. – a noble epitaph.”

Chaplain G.T. Robson, RNZN, to Rozel Thomas, 18 December 1939.

“He was buried at sea, in the River Plate estuary to the eastward of Montevideo, on December 14. As we do not carry a chaplain, I took the service myself; and he had full naval honours.”

William Parry, Captain of HMS Achilles, to Rozel Thomas, 19 December 1939.

Ordinary Seaman Arthur Miller (left) and Ian Grant (Right). Taken 12 December 1939; the day before Grant was killed in action. Reference: 2025.35.32

” He was killed by a splinter from a German shell which hit him while he was standing by the gun at which he is stationed. The Doctor says that he is quite sure that he cannot have known anything about being hit, for he must have been knocked unconscious at once. And so, his death was a merciful one and he knew no pain.”

William Parry, Captain of HMS Achilles to Rozel Thomas, 19 December 1939.

Ian Grant’s family recently donated a large collection of ephemera and objects to the Navy Museum. Some of these items were collected by Grant’s friends and crewmates after his death and sent home to his parents and sister.

2025.35.72_cropped — Bosun's whistle, donated with Ian Grant's possessions. Reference: 2025.35.72

Some of the letters and ephemera were collected by Ian’s mother, Rozel, after his passing. At least one of Ian’s letters to home arrived after the news of his loss had reached his family.

2025.35.66_001 — Rozel Thomas (right) receiving her son's medals, 9 July 1940. Reference: 2025.35.66

The Museum has also had the privilege of receiving letters of correspondence between Ian’s sister Ruby Marr, and his surviving shipmate John ‘Jim’ Turnbull. Ruby reached out to Turnbull in 2004, seeking the names of her brother’s old friends. Turnbull provided her with every name he recalled, and the traded photographs, many of which are now part of the Navy Museum’s collection.

2025.35.45_001 — Grant (Right) and unidentified friend 'Bill', on their final shore leave before the Battle of the River Plate. Reference 2025.35.45

The collection also contains a photograph album; one that we believe to have been compiled by Grant’s crewmates after his death, to be sent to his family.

You can see this album in person on display in the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum, in the temporary exhibition ‘What a Life’, until February 2027.

Ian Grant’s medals will be permanently on display in the Museum’s Medal Room.