Category: Setacci to Stacey

Gertrude Stacey was the second child of Lavinio and Letitia Setacci. She was their only daughter. She was Claud’s sister, making her your great great great Aunt.

Gertrude was born when her parents lived at Waldemar Street in Fulham, not far from Fulham Palace or the Putney Bridge.

At age 30 in 1921 she is working in the civil service as a temporary clerk at the Home Office. She worked at White Hall and lived with her family in Wimbledeon. One wonders if she and her father Lavinio would have taken the train together to get to work. She is single.

In age 48 in 1939 she is living in Worthing Sussex on the South Coast of England. She is living with her Aunt Helene Nachmann Stacey , wife and now widow of her Uncle Atillio. Gertrude is listed as single. As far as I know she never married.

Gertrude dies in 1973 at age 81 in Worthing Sussex.

Uncle Maurice was the third child and second son of Lavinio and Letitia. He was born in 1893 in St Pancras London. As the brother of your great great grandfather he is your great great great Uncle Maurice.

Maurice begins a career in the Insurance industry when he is still a teenager and living with his family at 51 Alexandra Road Wimbledon in 1911.

This career is interrupted by World War One. Maurice and his younger brother Bernard decide to enlist in the army towards the end of August 1915. Interestingly they decide to enlist in the regiment of the Royal Engineers, but not just any division of the Royal Engineers. They enlist in the Motor Cyclist Special Reserve of the Royal Engineers. From what I can tell they were pre-approved for this Motor Cyclist Special Reserve prior to their official enlistment. In order to do this they had to undergo some kind of test of their motor cycling skills, which they both passed. At first it was not clear to me whether they had their own motorcycles until I finally figured out what the below says.

I believe it says “applicants motorcycle unsuitable” As a result I believe the Stacey brothers did apply with motorcycles they themselves owned. And, though the brothers passed the motor cycling skills test, their motorcycles did not. Their motorcycles were deemed unsuitable for the war. The brothers however were still accepted into the Royal Engineers Motorcycle Specialist Reserve based on their motorcycling skills. The Army then must have provided the Stacey’s with motorcycles to use.

See below the enlistment forms of Maurice signed August 26, 1915. .

Maurice is almost 23 years old. At this point he is still working in Insurance and lists his career as an “Inspector of Agents.” Maurice becomes Regiment Number 73194, his brother Bernard will be 73195. The regiment numbers are key when doing research on soldiers in any war as they help you quickly identify documents related to the person you are researching. As you can see below, his approval to join the Special Motorcyclist Reserve is given the day before he enlisted on the 25th of August, 1915.

One advantage of joining the Special Reserve was that Maurice and Bernard were immediately promoted to Corporal upon enlisting.

As shown in the document above , though it may be hard to decipher, the brothers are to report to the Royal Engineers Signal Service Rest Camp at Bletchley where I assume they will be assigned a motorcycle, maybe like the Triumph below, or maybe a Douglas.

Below is the most informative piece of paper from Maurice’s service records. It too is difficult to decipher. Maurice’s son Michael Lawrence claimed that his father was a heroic despatch rider who lost his leg in WW1. I think the below corroborates this story.

.From what I can tell: Maurice was transferred from the Base Signal Camp which I believe was in Dunstable England to France in October 1915. He suffers some form of casualty in 1917. It looks like in July in France. I think it reads “Leg Comp Frac Sev” something. I am taking this to mean that Corporal Maurice Stacey suffered a severe compound leg fracture. Maurice is then transferred to a hospital in England, though we aren’t told which hospital.

Uncle Maurice is discharged from the Army shortly thereafter as he is no longer physically fit for service.

The good news is that Corporal Maurice Stacey returns home safe and alive to the family home in Wimbledon in the summer of 1918.. For his service in WW1 he is awarded three medals . The 1914-15 Star, a British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.

Post-war

Maurice returns to his career in Insurance working for the Royal Exchange Assurance. Royal Exchange is an insurance company located in the Royal Exchange building shown below.

Maurice marries Doris Evelyn Bulling in the summer of 1923. They too settle in Wimbledon at 296 Coombe Lane. This home still exists.

Maurice and Doris have three children

Michael Lawrence Stacey

Gerald Christopher Stacey ( Named after his great grandfather?)

and daughter Julia Letitia ( named after her grandmother)

Doris passes away on March 17 , 1967 in Epsom, Surrey at age 69 where she lived at 42 Alexandra Road. Maurice passes away four years later at age 78.

I believe they are buried at the Epsom Cemetery although I can only find Doris listed there in plot S59.

Family of Maurice and Doris

Maurice and Doris’s two sons had impressive military careers. . .

You can google Rear Admiral Michael Lawrence Stacy and read about his illustrious career in various places on the internet. Interestingly his career had not only a military emphasis , but an environmental one as well. See below.

Gerald Christopher Stacey

And it is not just son Michael who had an impressive military career.

Major Gerald Christopher Stacey , also a son of Maurice and brother to Michael, has also won awards. In fact, in 1977, at the time of the Queens Silver Jubilee he was awarded a Silver Jubilee and Birthday award for his work with the British Green Jackets in training parachutists at the parachutist training centre in Netheravon , Wiltshire, England. See below.

You can find this your self online at the National Archives herehttps://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7633477

It is also referenced on this Wikipedia page – though you will need to do a search on his name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Silver_Jubilee_and_Birthday_Honours

Julia Letitia Stacey , sister to Michael and Gerald moves to San Francisco California where she marries .

We definitely have cousins from these families all descendents of Uncle Maurice in both England and also I assume in California .

Uncle Bernard is the 4th child of Lavinio and Letitia, and their third son. He is brother to your great great grandfather Claud. As Claud is getting married in the summer of 1915 , his two younger brothers Maurice and Bernard are enlisting into WW1. This is interesting to think a bit more about. The Setacci family in a a couple of generations have gone from being the family of an exiled Italian cabinet maker to now fighting for the British Army.

As mentioned in Maurice’s post, the two brothers enlist in the Royal Engineers Special Reserve Motor Cyclist Section as shown below. As mentioned in our post on his brother Maurice, Bernard passed the motorcycle skills test, but his motorcycle was deemed unusable for the war. He is accepted however into the Special Reserve Motor Cyclist Section on the strength of his motorcyclist skills. He would be provided with a motorcycle once he arrived in Bletchley for training.

The brothers are to report to the Royal Engineers Signal Services Rest Camp at Bletchley. ( note Bletchley becomes famous in WW2 for breaking code) And, given they were approved for this Section, they were automatically promoted to Corporals immediately upon enlistment.

Bernard is just turning 21. He has been working as a Bank Clerk at the Post Office . ( interesting as this was where his new sister-in-law also worked, could it have been through this connection that Martha Greer Mills met his brother Claud?) It is the end of August – the 26th to be exact – when he signs his papers. Had Bernard and Maurice been waiting for the big wedding of Claud and Martha to be over with before they enlisted? We believe so.

Let me introduce you to your Uncle Bernard. Maybe you have some of his Stacey/Setacci attributes?

Bernard stands 5 foot 9 3/4 inches tall, and has a mole on his upper right arm and another one the on the outer side of his left knee. Too much information – maybe – but this is probably important – so the army can identify him when ………. ?

And, as shown above, both brothers give their mother Letitia as the name of their next of kin. So we know who would get the call if……..

Like his brother Maurice, Bernard is initially in training at Dunstable England before being transferred to the theatre of war in France in October 1915. We aren’t told much more until he is demobilized into Class Z in July 1919. On June 17, 1919 while in Le Havre France he signs a form attesting to the fact that he has not suffered any disabilities as a result of his time at the War. If those dates are correct then Corporal Stacey spent a long period of time in France. And he is a very lucky very brave soldier.

He is awarded the 1914 -15 Star for service and participation in a theatre of war, a British War Medal , and a Victory Medal.

He is not listed with his family at home in Wimbledon or anywhere else in the 1921 UK Census. Was he still in France at the time the census was taken, or had he travelled elsewhere?

Bernard marries Irene May Rhodes in 1931 at age 36. Irene May is only 20. Irene comes from a good family as her Dad is a Physician and a Surgeon. The wedding is in Benhilton All Saints Parish Church south of London.

Bernard continues his career in the Banking industry. Bernard and Irene have two children. A daughter Gillian ( Canadian cousin Judith Dixon remembers meeting Gillian briefly on a trip to London when she was a teenager – the two cousins were the same age) And a son who I won’t identify here as he is still living. ( though you can see his name on the tombstone below!)

Again we have cousins from this family, most likely living in England.

Irene May passes in 1952 at the very young age of 42. Uncle Bernard passes in 1966 at the age of 71. Both are listed as passing away in Worthing on the South Coast of England between Eastbourne and Portsmouth. Irene is buried in the Rustington Cemetery not far from Worthing. This is the only example I have of a Stacey tombstone. ( there must be others we don’t know about)

Wimbledon is where you will find many homes that the Setacci/ Stacey family inhabited from about 1910 to 1940 and maybe beyond.

So, if you are going to Wimbledon, maybe take a break from watching the tennis and take a couple of hours to explore the hood where your greats lived.

We believe your great great Uncle Attilio Regolos Setacci – although he changed his name to Arthur Royce Stacey perhaps to better fit into British society – was the first Settaci to settle here. He lived and worked – as a Dental Surgeon at 31 Home Park Road.

Close to the same time Attilio’s brother Lavinio also moved to Wimbledon. Lavinio is your third great grandfather . He and his family lived in Wimbledon at 51 Alexandra Road. It is while he lived here that two of his sons, Maurice and Bernard enlisted into World War One and the Royal Engineers Special Motorcycle Division in 1915

Lavinio’s son Claud was married that same year and set up his shop – after apprenticing with his uncle Attilio also set up his home and his Dental practice at 16 Augustus Road. Claud of course was the Father of your great grandmother Mildred. That makes him your great great grandfather.

After World War One was over Lavinio’s son Maurice also set up home in Wimbledon at 296 Coombe Lane. Maurice, brother to Claud would be you great great grand uncle – or something like that depending what generation of Stacy you happen to be. He would have been your great grandmothers uncle if that helps.

It is about a 2 hour walk from one side of Wimbledon to the other to visit all the homes of your Wimbledon greats. Take the train or tube to one of the nearby Wimbledon stations to start your walk.

Were the Stacey’s tennis fans? Did they play the game? Maybe someone in the family knows. Surely living nearby they must have had some interest. It would be hard to believe they wouldn’t have attended a match or two.

Well they couldn’t have gone to the tennis during WW1 as there were no tournaments during those War years. Before the War years Anthony Wilding of New Zealand was the Gentlemen’s champion. Anthony was killed in WW1. The Ladies champion at the same time was Dorothea Lambert of England in 1910, 1911, 1913 1nd 1914 and Ethel Thomson Larcombe in 1912.

Here is Dorothy in action below. Maybe some of your greats are in the stands, in the appropriate dress code, cheering her on?