Nicolas Stacey

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Nicolas David Stacey (27 November 1927 – 8 May 2017) was a British priest and social reformer who spent his life trying to make the Church and government help people more effectively.

Early life and athletics
- Born in London, he trained at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and served on HMS Anson during the end of World War II, taking part in the liberation of Hong Kong and witnessing Hiroshima after VJ Day.
- After leaving the Navy, he studied Modern History at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and trained for the priesthood at Cuddesdon Theological College.
- While at Oxford, he was active in athletics, serving as president of the Oxford University Athletics Club. He competed in the British Empire Games in 1950, winning a silver medal in the 4×110 yard relay, and took part in the 1952 Olympic Games (semi-final in the 200 metres and finalist in the 4×400 metres relay).

Religious life and early reforms
- He was ordained in 1953 and served at St Mark’s, Portsea. In 1958 he became Domestic Chaplain to the Bishop of Birmingham, Leonard Wilson.
- In Birmingham he founded and edited the Birmingham Christian News, a tabloid church paper known for its provocative and newsy approach. Stacey believed the church should speak to modern life and be relevant to people’s daily lives.

Rector of Woolwich and the Woolwich Project
- In 1960 he was made Rector of Woolwich, a post he held for eight years.
- He assembled a large, diverse ministry team and overhauled the parish church of St Mary Magdalen: closing one church, enclosing galleries, and creating offices, meeting rooms and counseling spaces. A discotheque was opened in the crypt, and a popular youth club and a coffee bar drew many people through the church doors.
- He also strengthened links with civic bodies and the Royal Arsenal and launched an intensive parish visitation program.
- Despite mixed reactions, after four years he judged the project a partial failure: regular worshippers increased but most did not live in the parish.
- Stacey wrote two widely read articles in The Observer about this experience, arguing for a church that could survive in the modern world. The pieces provoked sharp debate among commentators and church leaders.

Move into social services and charitable work
- In 1968 he briefly left parish life to become Deputy Director of Oxfam, aiming to spark a public campaign to alleviate global poverty. He resigned after two years when trustees worried it would threaten Oxfam’s charitable status.
- In 1971 he became the first Director of Social Services for the London Borough of Ealing. In 1974 he moved to Kent as Director of Social Services, a role he held until 1985. Kent’s department grew into one of the country’s leading social services bodies, with about 6,000 staff and 50,000 clients.
- Stacey introduced two ideas that became national policy:
- Professional Fostering for delinquent and troubled teenagers, placing selected teens with trained foster families instead of institutions.
- Community Care for the elderly, giving older people tailored packages of help to stay in their own homes when possible.
- His leadership and innovations earned national recognition, and a study of his work in Kent described him as having transformed the department.

Later life, writings and legacy
- He wrote an autobiography, Who Cares, describing his church and social work experiences.
- In 2005 he received the Cross of St Augustine for outstanding service to the Church of England and interchurch relations.
- In 2006 he contributed to an oral history project about the early days of modern social care in Britain.
- After his death, media coverage noted a connection to Kendall House, a Church of England children’s home with a history of abuse. Subsequent statements clarified that Stacey was not overseeing Kendall House and was not personally responsible for the failures there, though some documents show he had contact with people involved. The case highlighted the importance of the professional fostering approach he championed.
- His daughter, Dame Mary Stacey, became a High Court judge in 2020.

Nicolas Stacey is remembered for his bold attempts to reform church life and for pioneering social services that aimed to help vulnerable people, especially youth and the elderly, in practical, humane ways.