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?
