Unacknowledged as a botanist at the time it is clear from the dates of some her works that she was the first finder of many mosses and it is now recognised that she is the predominant British collector and illustrator of mosses.

Born in Modbury, Devon, the daughter of the Rev. William Stackhouse III and Sarah Stackhouse, she was the great niece of the famous botanist John Stackhouse. 

Moving to Probus when her father inherited Trehane House, Stackhouse developed a love of nature greatly encouraged by her uncle, by marriage, William Rashleigh MP. In the 1840s the writer and botanist, Rev. C. A. Johns (28^th June) asked her to illustrate a series of his books notably his famous ‘A Week at the Lizard’ (1848).  Her own works were collected and published in three volumes.