Joseph Foster Stackhouse (10 August 1873 – 7 May 1915) was a British traveller and would-be explorer who, in 1911, led an expedition to the Arctic island of Jan Mayen.

Born to an English Quaker family in the north of England, Stackhouse worked as an official with a railway company, while indulging in a passion for foreign travel.

He developed an abiding interest in foreign travel, became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), and visited numerous countries: Egypt, Finland, Malta, Morocco, the United States, and many more.

[2] At some stage in his early career, Stackhouse met and formed a close friendship with the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott.

[3] Stackhouse became an honorary secretary to Scott's Terra Nova expedition,[4] and took charge of fund-raising in the north of England; he also committed a substantial portion of his private resources to the enterprise.

[9] The island provided a base for the Austro-Hungarian Arctic Expedition of 1882–83,[10] and afterwards received regular short visits from explorers including, among others, Otto Nordenskjöld in 1900, Jean-Baptiste Charcot in 1902 and after, and the Duchess of Bedford in 1911.

Correspondence between the two indicates that the original plans had been to explore the island of Mevenklint, off the Greenland coast, but the destination was subsequently changed to Jan Mayen.

[4] The stated objectives of the expedition were to carry out meteorological observations between Iceland and Jan Mayen, and to survey the island's coastline as part of the preparation of an updated relief map.

The ship originally chartered, a wooden-hulled vessel designed for navigation in Arctic waters, was withdrawn by its owner on religious grounds; he demanded an assurance, not given, that every Sunday would be spent in port and that the crew would attend church services.

[17] The Stackhouse–Klinckowström correspondence refers to numerous organisational problems, including the lack on departure of the requisite Bill of health, the absence of a chronometer, no heating or appropriate warm clothing on the vessel, and inadequate equipment.

Notwithstanding, Stackhouse was prepared for another visit later in the year, but Klinckowström demurred, stating that "no future expedition should mingle British and Continental elements, because of differences in method".

[18] In an interview with the Daily Mirror on 13 February 1913, Stackhouse praised Scott's heroism in staying with his ailing companions rather than seeking to save himself: "I am sure that if he had not felt bound to stand by that poor fellow Evans after he became helpless, he would be alive today".

[21][22] In the furtherance of his plans, Stackhouse bought Scott's old ship Discovery from the Hudson's Bay Company for £9,500[23] – a fraction of its original cost of £51,000[24] – and paid a deposit of £1,000.

[29] Stackhouse planned to leave Britain by 1 August 1914,[25] but fell behind schedule; the New York Times on 18 April reported that departure had been delayed until "November or early next year",[30] while the Adelaide Advertiser gave December 1914 as a probable starting date.

[31] However, the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 forced Stackhouse to reconsider all his plans, and the expedition, along with several other concurrent Antarctic projects, was abruptly cancelled.

[32][n 3] Shackleton, whose plans for a transcontinental crossing were far advanced, got away on 3 August, on instructions from the British Admiralty, the day before Britain declared war on Germany.

[n 6] On that day, New York newspapers published a warning from the German Embassy that the ship would be entering a war zone, and that "vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters".

[53][n 8] Plans for the International Oceanographic Expedition died with him; Discovery remained, unused, at her berth at London's West India Dock, the balance on her purchase price still outstanding.