Service: 8th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment
Service no: G/1611
Date and place of birth: 2nd qtr 1891, in Midhurst, Sussex
Date and place of death: 14 July 1916 (aged 25) in France
Family background
Sidney Arthur Stacey was the son of Charles and Edith Stacey, nee Thayer, who married in Fernhurst, Sussex, on 3 January 1885.
In 1891 he was one month old and living with his parents and three bothers: Frederick (5), Archilbald (3), and Percy (2), in Woolbeding, Sussex.
In 1901 Charles Stacey (43), domestic gardener, and Edith (36) were living with their children: Frederick (15) groom, Archibald (13), domestic house boy, Percy (12), Sidney (10), Amelia E (9), Annie R (7), Ada L (4) and Amelia Thayer (80), mother in law, in Stedham.
In 1911 the family were still living in Stedham and Charles was still working as a gardener. With them were their children: Percy (22), horseman on farm, Sidney (20), general labourer, Annie Rose (17), general servant, Ada Louise (14), Alexander James (6) and Arthur Albert (6). Harry Attwater (41), house painter was a boarder.
Frederick Stacey (26), copse cutter, was lodging at Cymses Hill, Haslemere, in the household headed by William John Burt.
Amelia Emma (20) was working as a housemaid in the service of Anthony May Capron Hollist at High Building, Fernhurst, Haslemere, Sussex.
Archibald Stacey was a boarder in the household headed by Frederick A Chase at Crouch House, Forestmere, Liphook, Hampshire. He was working as a Life Assurance agent
Military service
Sidney Stacey enlisted in Chichester and joined the Royal Sussex Regiment, 8th battalion.
The 8th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers) formed in Chichester in September 1914 as part of K2 and came under the command of 54th Brigade in 18th (Eastern) Division. The Battalion moved to Colchester 4 February 1915, and became the Pioneer Battalion in the same Division. It then moved to Salisbury Plain in May 1915 and landed in Boulogne in late July 1915.
From the war diary of 8th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment:
Report of 13 July 1916
The 18th division has been ordered to complete the capture of TRONES WOOD this evening.
Attack will commence at 6pm
The Battalion will be employed in accordance with instructions issued verbally to Coy Comdrs.
It must be distinctly understood that Coys are responsible for the defence of the works they are undertaking until they are relieved tomorrow 14th inst by 53rd Infantry Battalion or until orders are issued by Btn HQ
Btn HQ will be at the point where the present HQ of 7th Btn W Kent Regiment appear at A4 9.3.
Sidney Stacey is number 70 on the list of wounded on this date.
He received British War and Victory medals and the 1914-15 Star medal.
Death and commemoration
Sidney Stacey died of wounds on 14 July 1916. He is buried at La Neuville British Cemetery, Corbie, France.
Sidney Stacey is commemorated on Stedham war memorial.
Subsequent family history
Charles Stacey died in 1936 in Midhurst district.
Edith Stacey died in 1944 in Midhurst district.
Amelia Thayer died in 1904 in Midhurst district.
Amelia E Stacey married Percy Harper in 1913 in Midhurst district.
Annie Rose Stacey married Frank Cridge in 1916 in Midhurst district.
Ada Louise Stacey married George Gibbs in 1919 in Midhurst district.
Frederick Stacey died in 1954 in Chichester district.
Arthur Albert Stacey died in 1968 in Midhurst district.
Percy Stacey died in 1976 in Chichester district.
Annie Rose Cridge died in 1979 in Swindon district.
Alexander James Stacey died in 1986 in Stroud district.
Further information on Alexander James Stacey is given by his son Michael Stacey, who lived in Stedham, Midhurst and Petworth.
My grandfather Charles Stacey was head gardener at Stedham Hall for some years. This would have been at the time that Mr Scrimgeour was Lord of the Manor. At this time, he lived in a house on the corner of School Lane and The Street and it was here that my father, Alexander, was brought up. My father’s brother Sidney is mentioned on the Roll of Honour at St James Church. When my grandfather died in 1936, my grandmother (Edith) moved to Box Tree Cottage, opposite the New Inn and the then small shop beside it. My aunt took over the cottage after the death of my grandmother, until her own death in the 1980s.
In 2014 Michael was able to verify that his father (Alexander James) worked for his father at Stedham Hall, along with his twin brother (Arthur Albert) from the age of 13 when he left Stedham school (1918), until he joined the Brighton Borough Police in 1927
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