Joseph Foster Stackhouse was born in Birchall, Kendall, Westmorland, England, on the 10th August 1873, the eldest child of Thomas Petchell and Martha Stackhouse (née Bowden). His father was a commercial traveller for a manufacturer of woollen cloth. He had two younger brothers, Thomas Petchell, born in 1876, and Frederick Norman,
born in 1883. He also had an older, un-named, brother who died shortly after being born in 1872. Joseph was educated firstly at Miss Frankland's School, Kendall, and then in Bradford and Sidcot School, a boarding school associated with the Religious Society of Friends in Winscombe, Somerset..
He became a drapers assistant before working on the staff of the Quaker newspaper, The Friend, and then became the chief advertising and poster expert of the North Eastern Railway - having published a book of sketches of all the best known types of railway locomotives whilst still a teenager.
On the 17th July 1900, he had married Miss Florence Hutchinson, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Hutchinson of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Both sides of the family were members of The Society of Friends, the marriage having taken place at The Friends‘ Meeting House, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Subsequently, the couple lived at 'Wythemagh', Broughton, Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, with their one child, a daughter named Elizabeth Petchell, who was born in 1903.
Joseph Stackhouse was a renowned oceanographer and explorer being a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society, The Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and The Zoological Society. In May 1915, he was in the advanced planning stage for the British Antarctic and Oceanographical Expedition which would have departed on a six or seven year voyage of discovery, sometime in 1916, on Captain Scott's former ship Discovery, which Joseph Stackhouse had bought specially for the expedition. By now, he was styling himself as Commander J. Foster Stackhouse, although he had never served in a navy! The expedition’s base was to have been in The Falkland Islands and its purpose was to have been the sounding of various channels and harbours in the South Atlantic, particularly Smyth's Channel near the Straits of Magellan, with a view to shortening the sea route to Chile to discover a new trade route to China.
The expedition had originally been planned to leave Britain in December 1914, but had to be postponed because of the outbreak of war. Although it was to be a private expedition, it had the support of the British and American governments and Commander Stackhouse had gone to America to raise funds for it.
Having been successful in this mission, he stayed at The Lotus Club, which was situated on West 57th Street, in New York, before booking saloon passage from there to Liverpool for his return to London on the May sailing of the Lusitania. Having boarded the liner at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915, (with ticket number 56075), he was escorted to his accommodation in room A34, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward John Perry, who came from Seaforth, in Lancashire, not far from Liverpool.
After the ship was struck, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, Commander Stackhouse, with other saloon passengers, did their best to help panicking passengers to survive, especially children.
An account, written by fellow saloon passenger Harold Boulton in a letter published in his old school magazine, The Stoneycroft Magazine, in June 1915, told of the situation when the ship was first hit by the torpedo and stated: -
I went down stairs to lunch at about 1-30 p.m., and had just come up and was smoking a cigarette on the boat deck, outside the palm lounge, talking to Mr. Foster Stackhouse, who I found out afterwards was drowned. At the time we were struck he was explaining to me how quite impossible it was for
a submarine to get us, for he said that anyone that was used to the sea could see the periscope of a submarine at least two miles away, and as they have to have the periscope up above the water at the time they fire the torpedo, the speed of the ship which could do 26 knots a hour, could easily outdistance any submarine. He was in the middle of telling me this when suddenly on the starboard side there was a terrific explosion, and the whole ship seemed to shudder at the shock. A few seconds later a huge quantity of dirty water and wreckage came crashing down near us, and we both rushed inside the palm lounge to escape the falling debris. That was the last I ever saw of Mr. Stackhouse.
In the book The Last Voyage of the Lusitania, by Adolph and Mary Hoehling, the scene at this stage of the vessel’s sinking is also described: -
Commander Stackhouse ..... was on deck with Lieutenant Frederick Lassetter of the King's Own Light Infantry, (sic). Stackhouse told the younger man to look for his mother.
When both Lassetters returned wearing lifebelts, they saw Stackhouse fasten his own belt on a little girl.
“You'd better jump," Stackhouse advised. Lassetter, wounded in the September fighting in Flanders, decided to follow the advice. He took one last look at Stackhouse assisting women into a boat, and heard him explaining why he could not join them: “There are others who must go first”.
Harold Boulton, Fredrick Lassetter and his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Lassetter, then jumped into the sea and the soldier almost instinctively knew when he looked up and saw the figure of Commander Stackhouse standing on the stern of the liner, that it would be the last time he would ever see him!
Commander Stackhouse was indeed killed after the Lusitania sank, but his body was recovered from the sea and landed at Queenstown, where it was given the reference number 211 in one of the temporary mortuaries there and described as: -
Commander J.F, Stackhouse, Saloon, aged 42 years, 5’ 8”, long brown moustache, dark hair, medium build, long nose, slightly hooked, wore a dark grey tweed suit, names on papers in possession W.S. Greening, F.A. Spring Rice.
Property. 1 silver wrist watch with leather strap, 1 gold watch and chain with gold ring and seal attached, 2 knives, 1 pencil, 1 plain gold ring, 1 gold signet ring, 3 small keys, 2 photos, 14/6 in silver, 5 pennies, 3 small coins, tobacco pouch, silk handerkerchief and some correspondence.
It was then claimed by relatives and on 17th May 1915, it was buried in The Society of Friends Burial Ground, Quaker Road, Cork City, County Cork, where it lies today. The Commander was aged 41 years.
His memorial stone is exactly the same size and shape as all the other headstones in the cemetery and simply states: -
JOSEPH FOSTER STACKHOUSE
OF LONDON
LOST BY THE SINKING
OF R. M. S. LUSITANIA
MAY 7 1915,
AGED 41 YEARS
The recovered property was forwarded to his widow at the Kettering address, on 4th June 1915, and on 15th October 1915, at London, she was also granted administration of his estate. His effects amounted to £562-10s-0d., (£562.50p).
The Westmorland Gazette published just after the sinking in the Lake District, where Commander Stackhouse was born, records: -
Before sailing, Commander Stackhouse was the principal guest at the Lotus Club dinner in New York, where he expressed the opinion that the Lusitania was the safest boat possible to travel by, as she was too fast to be in danger from a torpedo.
Before the outbreak of the Great War, Commander Stackhouse and his family had also lived at ‘Roland Lodge‘, College Road, Epsom, Surrey and this address was also stated on the application made for the purposes of probate. It is perhaps for this reason also, that his headstone states that he was OF LONDON.
Bedroom Steward Perry, who had looked after the Commander in room A34 was also killed as a result of the torpedoing and never returned to his Seaforth home.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, Cunard Records, Stoneyhurst Magazine, Kettering Leader, Surrey Advertiser and County Times, Annual Monitor, Last Voyage of the Lusitania, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-11, UniLiv D92/2/444, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Paddy O’Sullivan, Raymond White, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.