Year: 1864

Uncle Adriano Settaci

Uncle Adriano was the second son of Cristoforo Setacci and Lucy Iles, brother of your triple great grandfather Lavinio. Adriano was born about 1864.

Like his brother Lavinio, Adriano begins his career in the Civil Service as a teenager. While Lavinio is in the Admiralty Division, Adriano works in the Patent Office. How did the boys get these good government jobs at young ages? Did the Setacci family have some kind of connection that helped? Did the brothers travel to work together? Did they take the tube down to the government offices in Whitehall? Was the Patent Office in Whitehall at that time? I would assume so.

In 1888 Adriano marries Ada Gertrude Blake at Saint Saviour Church just north of Regent Park .

This Church still exists.

And the couple had a son. Cecil Adrian Setacci born on November 11 1888. Cecil was Baptized in 1889 at St Augustine, Paddington.

At the time the family lived at 47 Donaldson Road in the Paddington area of London. The home still exists. See below.

When young Cecil is 7 years old in 1895 he goes to Westminster, St Augustine’s Church of England School – the same Church in which he was baptized in the Paddington area. See below, Cecil is admission no, 1749 below the three Beever brothers. St Augustine’s was an all boys school in 1895. The school still exists to this day.

Unfortunately Adriano’s marriage does not last. Adriano accuses his wife of having an affair with a Mr. Sam White ( and others apparently) . Adriano files for divorce in November 1899 . It is amazing how well documented this divorce is and how easy it is to find these documents. The below snippet form the British National Archives explains why. In 1899 Divorce cases were still heard in the Supreme Court – though a special division. Getting a divorce at the turn of the century was expensive, and a big deal.

And you can read a bit about the case below.

Interestingly, as seen below, even though the alleged act of adultery was to have taken place in 1893, Adriano does not file for divorce until 1899. He asks for custody of his young son Cecil now 11 years old

Adriano wins the case. BTW – the judge even has a Wikipedia page, it can be found here! Gorell Barnes, 1st Baron Gorell – Wikipedia

And – if you want to visit the location where your Uncle’s adultery/divorce case was decided – you can go to this website and book a tour of the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand https://theroyalcourtsofjustice.com/tours/

Adriano does marry again in 1909 when he is in his mid 40s. His new wife is named Edith Augusta – I have yet to figure out her maiden name. Edith Augusta and Adriano have a son by the name of Neville Adrian a year later in 1910. The family live in Neasden, Willesden. As mentioned in other posts, both Adriano’s mother and brother also live in the area about this time. Adriano continues his career at the Patent Office. Later Electoral Registers list him as Board Of Trade Patent Office, and in 1905 as Committee of Privy Council for Trade, Patent Office. ( this sounds like a very important role to me)

Adriano dies at the young age of 56 in 1920. We don’t know the cause of death.

Interestingly , shortly after Adriano’s death , Edith Augusta and son Neville Adrian Stacey move to Melbourne Australia in 1923.

Edith seems to have settled north of Melbourne in Bendigo.

As far as I can tell Neville became a Metallurgist and worked in Mines. I can find him working at Mount Isa Mine in 1958 and later in 1980 on an Electoral roll in Heberton, Queensland Australia. I can’t find any evidence of a marriage or a wife. So did Neville leave any descendants? Do we have Stacey relatives in Australia somewhere that we aren’t aware of?

I have not been able to find out what happened to first son Cecil Adrian from the first marriage. Hopefully someone reading this will know. (note – maybe he was in WW1? Would have been in mid 20s then – a casualty possibly – but no records of it ? )

The Italian Working Men and the International

Cristoforo was not solely involved in Cabinet Making and Family activities in the mid 1860s. And it is here that leads me to believe he worked with Mazzini. While in London Mazzini started various organizations to support the Italian community there. One of Mazzini’s strategies appears to have been to create these types of organizations to lend support to the unification and democratisation of Italy from abroad. One of those organizations was the Italian Working Men’s Association of Mutual Progress. In 1864 this group had 350 members. Setacci is listed as one of the leaders of this organisation.

This is mentioned in a couple of publications but I believe the original source is at the index be here https://www.marxists.org/history/international/iwma/documents/minutes/name-index.htm

This is the index to those who participated in the formation of the International , and if you scroll down to the Ss you will find our Cristoforo.

Below is a snip of the information on him.

In 1864 an International Working Men’s Association is formed. Mazzini decides to have his group of Italian Working Men join the newly formed International Working Men. This group comes to be known famously as simply the “International”. Initially Mazzini was hoping to have some influence over this International Group. That, however was not to be, as Karl Marx became its influential leader.

The first meeting of the International was held in St Martin’s Hall in London. St Martin’s hall no longer exists, but it was very close to Covent Gardens. The scene is depicted below. One has to assume that Cristoforo is there.

As shown here in the minutes of the meeting he becomes a member of the initial general council of the International.

A poster displaying the event is shown below. ( ok – I am probably going to get into some copyright issues on some of these photos – but don’t think anyone is going to come after me on some family blog- hopefully) Note that the Italians are providing the musical band and the Germans are providing the singers or choruses.

Subsequent meetings of the International were held at 18 Greek Street in Soho. That address is now a restaurant. So, you could visit 18 Greek Street, have dinner or lunch , and imagine people like Marx, and Mazzini, and most importantly, Cristoforo Setacci meeting there.

Finally , talk about being involved in historic events with famous people, it doesn’t get much better than the below. In 1865 Karl Marx writes a letter from the International to Abraham Lincoln. This letter can be found on the internet quite easily by googling it. There is a link on wikpedia. And Setacci is the last signature of the first set of signatures on the document.

I will leave you to read the letter, and reflect upon it. Your Great is a signatory to a letter written by Marx to Lincoln congratulating him on his re-election and the death of slavery! Something to be proud of for sure. Not to mention the importance of the “International” as one of the first global organizations of working men. As an artisan cabinet maker our Cristoforo surely understood the pressures his craft and his way of life would face with the increase of furniture factories, industrialization and national governments passing laws that would support it all. The International would stand up for the rights of working men like him. And our Cristoforo is one of its founding members.

When Mazzini leaves the International – I believe due to disagreements with Marx and others on certain topics, and the overall direction of the organization ( though again I am no expert on this history) I believe Cristoforo Setacci does as well as I can’t find his name in the minutes of the meetings of the International after that point. This again supports our thesis that Setacci was heavily influenced by Mazzini.