his return to England he married Anne, only daughter of John, son and heir of Sir Roger Townshend of Rainham. He appears to have taken up his residence at Heydon in Norfolk, whence he was writing to his father in 1625 (Tanner MS. lxiv. 145). In the same year he was chosen to succeed his father as member for Worcester city (Return of Members of Parliament, Parl. Papers, 1878). In 1628, by the influence of Sir Roger Townshend, he travelled on the continent for a time in the suite of Lord Carlisle (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 17 May 1628). On leaving Lord Carlisle he went to Italy, where he visited some of the universities, and made the acquaintance of Italian scholars (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 8 May 1629).
When his father refused the mastership of Sutton's Hospital, he vainly asked that the office might be given to his son. He was knighted on 18 Dec. 1641. On the outbreak of the civil war the king wrote to him on 21 Jan. 1642, directing him to remain in Norfolk, where his personal service and residence were especially needed (Norfolk Archæological Soc. ii. 452; cf. Tanner MS. lxiv. 145). Subsequently the king summoned him to Oxford, where he lived in Brasenose College, and attended Charles I's private council. He thoroughly gained the royal favour, and it was intended to appoint him one of the secretaries of state (ib. xxvi. 21). But he died prematurely, on 25 July 1643, of the camp disease (Ælfredi Magni Vita, preface, Oxford, 1678). He was buried in St. Mary's Church, his funeral sermon being preached by Ussher. He left two sons: Roger Spelman of Holme, and Charles, afterwards rector of Congham. His estate was sequestrated by the parliament, ‘to the very great weakening of it,’ from which, wrote a descendant on 3 Feb. 1691, ‘his posteritie too sensibly groan under, this day’ (Tanner MS. xxvi. 21).
Spelman published from manuscripts in his father's library ‘Psalterium Davidis Latino-Saxonicum Vetus,’ London, 1640, and he wrote while at Oxford the following pamphlets: 1. ‘Certain Considerations upon the Duties both of Prince and People,’ Oxford, 1642, and published in ‘Somers Tracts,’ iv. 316, ed. Scott. 2. ‘A View of a printed Book, entitled “Observations upon his Majesty's late Answers and Expresses,”’ Oxford, 1642. 3. ‘The Case of our Affairs in Law, Religion, and other Circumstances briefly examined and presented to the Conscience,’ Oxford, 1643; and 4. ‘A Discoverie of London's Obstinacie and Misery.’ He also compiled, apparently during his residence in Oxford, a ‘Life of King Alfred the Great,’ which, after being translated into Latin by Christopher Wase [q. v.], was published in 1678 with a commentary by Obadiah Walker [q. v.]
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon.; Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. vi.; Brit. Museum Cat.; Cal. State Papers, Dom.; Bodleian Libr. Cat.; Norfolk Archæological Soc. vol. vii.]
SPENCE, BENJAMIN EDWARD (1822–1866), sculptor, was born in Liverpool in 1822. His father, William Spence, who was born in Chester, contributed to the Liverpool and the Manchester exhibitions, and in 1842 and 1844 to the Royal Academy; but later in life he became a partner in a business house in Liverpool, and abandoned the profession. He died in Liverpool on 6 July 1849, aged 56 years. The younger Spence, at the age of sixteen, successfully executed a portrait bust of William Roscoe [q. v.], and in 1846 he was awarded the Heywood silver medal and 5l. in money by the council of the Royal Manchester Institution for a group in clay of the death of the Duke of York at Agincourt. His father was then persuaded by his old friend, John Gibson, R.A., to send the young sculptor to Rome. Here he entered the studio of R. J. Wyatt, and also received much help from Gibson. Between 1849 and 1867 he contributed to the exhibition of the Royal Academy five times—in 1850 Ophelia, in 1856 ‘Venus and Cupid,’ in 1861 Hippolytus, and in 1867 ‘The Parting of Hector and Andromache.’ To the International Exhibition of 1862 he contributed two works, ‘Finding of Moses’ and ‘Jeanie Deans before Queen Caroline,’ and to the French International Exhibition of 1855 ‘Highland Mary.’ Many works of his that were not exhibited in England were engraved in the ‘Art Journal.’ He was not an artist of great originality, but his work has elegance and feeling. He died at Leghorn on 21 Oct. 1866.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of English School; Art Journal, 1866, p. 364; Graves's Dict. of Artists; Exhibition Catalogues.]
SPENCE, ELIZABETH ISABELLA (1768–1832), authoress, was born on 12 Jan. 1768 at Dunkeld. She was the only child of Dr. James Spence, a physician at Dunkeld, by his wife Elizabeth, youngest daughter of George Fordyce, provost of Aberdeen (d. 1733), and sister of James Fordyce [q. v.] Losing her parents early, Miss Spence went to live in London with an uncle and aunt, and was by their death left destitute of relatives. She had already commenced writing as a pastime, and now carried it on for a livelihood. Her works consist of novels and
