French school of fiction. She is connected with the State Children's Department of South Australia, and is the authoress of "The Laws we Live under, with some chapters on Elementary Political Economy and the Duties of Citizens," which was published in 1881, under the direction of the Minister of Education of South Australia. Miss Spence was born at Melrose in 1825, and went to South Australia with her parents in 1839. In 1854 she published "Clare Morrison, a Tale of the South Australian Gold Fever"; in 1856 "Tender and True"; in 1865 "Mr. Hogarth's Will"; and in 1868 "The Author's Daughter." "Gathered In," another novel from her pen, appeared in the Adelaide Observer and the Queenslander. In 1884 Miss Spence published anonymously in London "An Agnostic's Progress," written from a theistic point of view. She is a strong advocate of the Hare system of representation, and thirty years ago published a pamphlet in Adelaide entitled "A Plea for Pure Democracy," arguing for its adoption in South Australia. Miss Spence has taken a practical interest in the working of the boarding-out system as applied to the neglected children of South Australia, and is a warm champion of the outdoor relief system wisely administered.
Spence, John Brodie, was born at Melrose, Scotland, in 1824, and arrived in South Australia with his parents in Oct. 1839. His father, David Spence, solicitor, was town clerk of the first corporation of Adelaide, and died in 1846. Mrs. Spence lived till 1888, reaching the great age of ninety-seven. Mr. John Brodie Spence was engaged in country pursuits till 1845, when he removed to Adelaide and was connected with the Bank of South Australia for seven years. He was afterwards for five years Official Assignee and Curator of Intestate Estates, but left that office for the managership of the English and Scottish Bank, which he held till 1878. He was elected a member of the Legislative Council in 1881, second on the poll of the colony as one electorate, and was Chief Secretary in the Downer Government from June to Oct. 1885, Commissioner of Public Works from the latter date till June 1886, when he again took office as Chief Secretary, but finally retired in July.
Spencer, Professor Walter Baldwin, M. A., Professor of Biology in the University of Melbourne, is the son of Reuben Spencer, of Stretford, Lancashire, and was educated primarily at Owens College, Manchester, and at the London University. Being subsequently elected to an open science scholarship at Exeter College, Oxford, he matriculated there on Oct. 20th, 1881, retaining his scholarship till 1885. He was also awarded the Dalton Natural History Prize in the College for Botany and Comparative Anatomy. He graduated B.A. in 1884 being placed in the first class in the Honour Schools of natural science. Subsequent to taking his degree, he was appointed assistant to the Linacre Professor of Human and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford, and in March 1886 was elected to a Fellowship in Lincoln College, Oxford, which he held till his departure for Australia in Feb. 1887, having been appointed in the previous month to fill the Chair of Biology in the University of Melbourne. Prof. Spencer has published seven or eight valuable papers on subjects cognate to the particular branch of scientific study to which he has devoted himself.
Spensley, Hon. Howard, eldest son of William Spensley, of London, was born in London in 1837, and emigrated to Victoria in 1858. He was called to the Victorian Bar in 1864, and shortly afterwards entered public life, being returned to the Legislative Assembly for Portland in 1871. He was Solicitor-General in the Duffy Government from June 1871 to June 1872. In the following year be returned to England, where he has since resided. Mr. Howard Spensley was called to the English Bar at the Middle Temple, in 1876. In 1885 he was elected M.P. for Central Finsbury, as an advanced Liberal and staunch supporter of Mr. Gladstone, but was defeated at the 1886 election by only five votes. Mr. Spensley has, since his residence in England, always shown a strong interest in Australian affairs, particularly those of the colony of Victoria; and he is one of the Board of Advice to the Agent-General He is also one of the representatives of the colony of Victoria on the Council of the Imperial institute. Mr. Spensley, who is a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute as well as of the Royal Geographical Society, is chairman of the London Board of the
428
