PROLOGUE

In 2005,after contacting Mrs Mary Emmott, I received a bundle of 184 photocopied letters, originally sent to the family of Dr Walter Jaques Stack (1884-1972) when he was serving during The Great War from 1915 until 1919. The letters, since typed, were sent to me by Mrs Emmott, Walter Stack's daughter who knew of my interest in her father's cricket career.

For the first thirty years of his life, Stack had led a life of gentle ease. He was educated at Dulwich College, England, a class mate and friend of the distinguished novelist, PG Wodehouse. His family then moved back to Australia and Walter studied Medicine at Sydney University. He bowled his leg breaks and googlies skilfully enough to be chosen in seven 1st class games (142 runs @12.9 and 24 wickets @31.1). For SUCC's 1st Grade sides, for whom he played in three Premierships, Stack's record was unrivalled for many years (1361 runs @17.9 and 269 wickets @18.9).

Stack's letters tell a tale of those who, thousands of miles from Australia, were there because of a sense of patriotism, of loyalty to the Empire, of a yearning for adventure. In Stack's case, he also had an advanced sense of duty and responsibility as a Medical Officer. The letters, however, tell little of tedious life in the trenches, of the charge at Lone Pine (where Stack's old teammate, Jack Massie, was so badly injured that he never played serious cricket again), of the horrors of France, of the stench of death, of Stack's own bravery, for which he was awarded the DSO by King George V. Instead, Stack's letters read as though they were written by a tourist on an extended holiday. They especially tell of meetings with his old University friends and team mates and are littered with descriptions of encounters with Eric Barbour, Paddy Lane, Clive Single....and BV Stacy.

This story is about one of those mates with whom Stack spent much time, Bertie Vandeleur Stacy, born in 1886, two years after Stack. They were to die many years later within four months of each other.

AUSTRALIA IS AT WAR

Just after war was declared, Bertie Stacy, a recent graduate in Law and a former SUCC cricketer, enlisted on 6 August 1914 as a Private in 1 Battalion, the first infantry battalion raised in NSW. He was soon to be joined by many of the legal profession and the first group of over 100 of those who had played for SUCC. In 1931, Stacy co-wrote the history of 1 Battalion. In September 1914, he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in 4 Battalion and on 28 October 1914, Lieutenant Stacy embarked on HMAT EuripIdes bound for Egypt.

BERTIE STACY'S FAMILY

Bertie was the grandson of Doctor John Edward Stacy (1799-1881), a much respected surgeon and medical officer in Australia after he had emigrated from England to Sydney in October 1828.

Bertie was a son of Beauchamp Stacy (1840-1909), the Mudgee Manager of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, and Fannie Augusta Devenish (nee Meares) Stacy (1852-1934).

He was related through his mother to Frank Devenish-Meares (1873-1952), a 1st class cricketer who played one game for Western Auistralia before his two games for NSW in 1901-02.

Bertie was the younger brother of Doctor Valentine Osborne Stacy (1882-1929) who had also played for SUCC and who was also to serve until 1919, when he was awarded the OBE.

Another relation was  Lieutenant Colonel Harold Skipton Stacy (1874-1949) who had graduated MD ChM in 1901 and who had played for SUCC in the 1890s and who then continued to represent the Sydney University Veterans in the first decade of the 20th century. He was a Vice President of SUCC when Bertie was playing for the Club. After serving in The Great War, he was one of the six founders of Cranbrook School in Sydney and was one of the first members of the School Council when the school opened in 1918.

BERTIE'S EARLY LIFE

Bertie was born in Mudgee and was educated at the local grammar school where he was a Sergeant in the school cadet corps. In 1903, he joined his father's bank and worked at various city and country branches until 1909 when he began to study Arts at Sydney University, graduating BA in 1911. He was then an articled clerk in the legal firm of Dibbs, Parker and Parker while studying Law, graduating LLB in 1914.

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY

In November 1911, Just before graduating  in Arts, Bertie was involved in an incident where a number of students had attended dinner followed by an evening at the theatre. High spirits got the better of them and culminated in Bertie being charged, in that he "incited a person to resist a constable in the execution of his duty." The "person" was University's champion batsman and NSW player, Eric Barbour, who was eventually charged with some kind of offence against public order. The magistrate dismissed the case on the basis that the policeman had been mistsaken. It was a case of mistaken identity. The lives of Stacy, later a District Court Judge, and Barbour, a prominent doctor, could have taken an unpleasant turn had not the magistrate agreed with the defence barrister.

At University, Bertie was a fine tennis player who was awarded his Blue for Tennis in 1912, incidentally in the same team as Eric Barbour and other 1st class cricketers such as Norman Gregg and Claude Tozer who were to meet again in France. As a cricketer, however, Bertie was of modest ability. He averaged 22 with the bat in 3rd Grade in 1909-10. In 1910-11, his 31 runs and 5 wickets in 2nd Grade made a minimal impression. In 1910-11, he was elected to the General Committee of the Club as a replacement for RF Hughes who was to be one of those who had played for SUCC but who was killed in France in 1916. The next season, 1911-12, Stacy was elected to the General Committee but found time to attend only two of the six meetings. On the field during that season, in 3rd Grade he scored 60 runs and took seven wickets and in 2nd Grade 24 runs and one wicket. These were his last appearances in Grade cricket and he now concentrated on his legal studies.

GALLIPOLI AND FRANCE AND ENCOUNTERS WITH WALTER STACK.

A month after the first landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, Stacy was promoted to Lieutenant in 4 Battalion. Stack wrote to his family from Heliopolis. "My dear people ...Stacy has been distinguishing himself left and right." Then, at Gallipoli, Stacy was wounded in action when his periscope was hit, cutting his right eye quite badly. Stack, by now Medical Officer of 4 Battalion, wrote from "Gallipoli Peninsula" to "Dear Mater and Pater" informing them that Stacy had returned to the front but that "his eye is still not quite right yet." Stacy was commended for bravery and mentioned in despatches, the first of six times he was to be mentioned in this way during the War.

On 8 September, before Stacy's promotion to Temporary Captain (he was later promoted to Captain, then to Major and finally to Lieutenant Colonel), he and Stack met again: "Bert Stacy came back again yesterday and he is looking quite fit and has plenty to say for himself." Six weeks later, Stack is keen to record a more social occasion: "This afternoon [29 October 1915]. I walked over with Stacy to Monash Gully to see Paddy Lane." Lane had been SUCC's 1st Grade Premiership captain in both 1909-10 and 1911-12.

Meanwhile, Stacy was acquiring a nickname among his men who referred to him, out of hearing, as  "Baron Von Stacy", a reference to his commanding, authoritarian style of leadership which at times made his decisions unpopular while he still commanded respect among the soldiers. Thirty years later, he carried these qualities into his courtrooms where his expectation for strict behaviour and his lack of tolerance for verbosity were legendary. Nevertheless, in March 1916, 4 Battalion was put under the command of the newly promoted Major Stacy when Lieutenant Colonel McNaghten had to be invalided back to Australia. Thus, Major Stacy was in charge during the dreadful winter of 1916-17. He showed exemplary courage and was an inspiration to his men. He was awarded the DSO in 1917, upgraded to DSO and Bar in 1919, just after the award of Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. Stacy's citation when he was awarded the DSO and Bar was fulsome:

For conspicuous bravery in the attack on Chuignolles and Chuignes on 23 August 1918. He established his head quarters just behind the fighting troops...Owing to his splendid leadership, his battalion made an advance of nearly 3 miles and captured several hundred prisoners.

There is a gap in Stack's letters from 1916 until 1918. Were they lost or destroyed or just not sent?

The friendship and shared companionship between the two certainly continued.

In February 1918, they were both in Egypt and they took a trip to Cairo and the pyramids. Stack  wrote to his family once again: "[Clive]Single, Stacy and myself had dinner." They also met up with former SUCC players, Frank Farrer and Tommy Ducker.

THE WAR ENDS AT LAST. AFTERMATH.

Stack's detailed letters continued.

6 July 1918 "In the Field": "I saw Stacy a couple of days ago. He had just got back from leave, after a good time as usual."

20 October 1918: "Bert Stacy has just got a Bar to his DSO [referred to above]. I had dinner with him a couple of times recently."

Then, the much anticipated day. "...one of the greatest if not the greatest events in the world's history...the Armistice...and the Kaiser has had to clear out!"

Stack spent most of 1919 working at the Bristol Royal Infirmary but he now had time for dinners, suppers, dances, visits to the theatre, often in company with Stacy and others. There is a sense of blessed relief from the peril he had faced during the previous four years. Then. on 3 July 1919, "Stacy leaves for Australia today." It was to be another four months before Stack was to see Australia again. He then qualified as an opthalmic surgeon and didn't marry until February when he was aged 45. An earlier engagement in England had been broken off by mutual consent.

A DISTINGUISHED LEGAL CAREER

Almost as soon as he arrived back in Sydney, Stacy was admitted to the NSW Bar in October 1919. He was now a barrister with a practice mainly in Common Law. He married Mary Graham Lloyd on 15 September 1920 and they were to have two daughters and a son.

He was a Crown Prosecutor from 1925 and edited a text book, the fifth edition of 'Bignold's Police Offences and Vagrancy Acts' in 1936.

In 1939 he was appointed as a District Court Judge. in that role, he had a fearsome reputation for punctuality and correct court procedure until his retirement in 1955.

EPILOGUE

When Doctor Walter Stack died at Bathurst on 26 March 1972, just after the end of the 1971-72 Grade Cricket season, he was all but forgotten by the club he had served so faithfully. No Club obituaries were recorded; no connections were made except by a dwindling band of contemporaries.

Four months earlier, In December 1971, Bertie Stacy died at Darlinghurst, the day before his eighty-fifth birthday. There were no SUCC obituaries; no stories; no records, despite his distinguished and decorated military and civilian career.

Walter Stack's letters, however, written over 100 years from now, bring the two colleagues to life. Those letters to his family now belatedly and warmly, respect the memory of two of SUCC's more honoured former players, brothers in arms.

James Rodgers