The Stacey brothers were John (1806-1872), William (1815-1869), and Joseph (1819-1888).  They were the sons of Thomas Stacey (c.1769-1853) and his wife, Mary. In White’s General Directory of … Sheffield (1845),  Thomas Stacey and Stacey Bros were listed as table knife manufacturers at 17 Orange Street.  Thomas died on 20 December 1853, aged 84, and was buried at the parish churchyard (Sheffield Independent, 24 December 1853).

John, as the senior partner, told the Census in 1851 that the enterprise employed 20 men.  In the following year, Stacey Bros & Co advertised from Eyre Street Works as a manufacturer of table cutlery, butcher, shoe, cook, and bread knives, besides various trade knives (such as those for painters and farriers), and spring knives and spoon knives. These products (most of which would have been factored) were for ‘home and exportation’. Henry Thomas Grinold became a partner, but he withdrew in 1854 (see Slack & Grinold).  In 1856, the firm moved from Eyre Street to Charlotte Street.  By the early 1860s, the company had moved to Union Lane and advertised as a maker of table cutlery, pen, pocket, lock and spoon knives, Bowie, Cape strike-fire knives and Kaffir knives.

However, William Stacey left the business in 1857 and his brother Joseph followed in 1861.  In the Sheffield directory (1862), they still described themselves as partners in Stacey Bros (the dissolution was not formally lodged until 1863), but they had a new calling as public house landlords.  William was victualler at the Devonshire Arms, South Street.  Joseph was landlord at Wentworth House, Rockingham Street.  When William died on 5 December 1869, aged 54, he was running the Victoria Hotel, High Street.  His unconsecrated burial was in the General Cemetery.  He left under £1,500.  Joseph’s second wife, Emma, was born at Portsea in Hampshire.  By 1871, they had moved to Portsea, where Joseph opened an ironmonger’s shop (with a boy assistant).  He died at Portsea on 21 August 1888, leaving £144.  John Stacey continued to run Stacey Bros, which by 1868 was listed at Fitzwilliam Street (where John also resided).  His 29-year-old son, Walter Kay Stacey, died on 29 December 1869.  In 1871, the firm was no longer listed in directories.  John and his wife, Mary, ended their days in poverty and by 1871 were living at Ecclesall Union Workhouse.  John died there on 28 January 1872.  He was buried in the unconsecrated section of the General Cemetery.