STACK, JAMES (1801-83) was born at Southsea, the fourth son of John Stack, and was descended from a Danish family which settled in South Wales and afterwards in Kerry. Sent out to New South Wales by his father, James was unable to make a living on the land and took a position in a merchant's office in Sydney. There he met Marsden, and in 1823 he volunteered for service in the Wesleyan mission in New Zealand under Samuel Leigh. He was the only member of the mission at Wesleydale who understood the Maori language. When the station was raided by hostile Maori (1827) Stack with one man walked to Kerikeri for help and returned at once. He went to Sydney with the other members of the mission, but soon returned to New Zealand and under promise of protection from Patuone he chose Mangungu for the re-establishment of the mission by Mr and Mrs Hobbs (1827).

In 1831 Stack visited England with a view to taking holy orders, but accepted lay service under the Church Missionary Society. He married Mary West (1833) and sailed for the colonies in the Royal Sovereign. He was appointed to the station at Mangapouri, at the junction of the Waipa and the Puniu, under the Rev James Hamlin, and Mrs Stack took charge of the girls' school. There the first child (James West Stack, q.v.) was born. The threatening conduct of Awarahi caused them to remove to Bay of Islands, where they remained until Nov 1837, when they went to a new station at Tauranga. While there Stack assisted Bidwill and Dieffenbach (q.v.) in their explorations in the interior, and in 1842 he went to East Cape as locum tenens for William Williams. Persevering in the midst of turbulent tribes, Stack reported at the end of 1844 that 34 of his natives could read the Scriptures. In 1846 he took over also the duties of Kissling's station at Hicks Bay, but his health broke down under the strain and anxiety and in 1847 he went to England. Mrs Stack died in 1850 and Stack worked in connection with the Wesleyan Church in various capacities. In his later years he ministered to the navies and dock labourers at his native Portsmouth, where he died on 18 Apr 1883.

Stack was a stern Calvinist, and as a preacher almost fanatical. In later life he lived in considerable poverty, bathed in the sea every morning and held open-air services for sailors.

Carleton; Stack, More Adventures.

Reference: Volume 2, page 162

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