Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spender, Lily
SPENDER, LILY, usually known as Mrs. John Kent Spender (1835–1895), novelist, born on 22 Feb. 1835, was the daughter of Edward Headland, a well-known physician of Portland Place, London, by his wife, daughter of Ferdinand de Medina, a Spaniard. Miss Headland was educated at Queen's College, Harley Street. In 1858 she married Mr. John Kent Spender, physician to the Mineral Water Hospital, Bath. After her marriage Mrs. Spender turned her attention to literature. She contributed to the ‘London Quarterly Review,’ the ‘Englishwoman's Journal,’ the ‘Dublin University Review,’ the ‘British Quarterly,’ and to a magazine called ‘Meliora;’ but after 1869 she chiefly confined herself to novel-writing. She was active in educational and social work in Bath until her health failed. She died at Bath on 4 May 1895. Of Mrs. Spender's eight children, seven survived her. Two of her sons, Mr. J. A. Spender and Mr. Harold Spender, are well-known London journalists.
Mrs. Spender was the author of: 1. ‘Brothers-in-Law,’ London, 1869, 8vo. 2. ‘Her Own Fault,’ London, 1871, 8vo. 3. ‘Parted Lives,’ London, 1873, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1885. 4. ‘Jocelyn's Mistake,’ London, 1875, 8vo. 5. ‘Mark Eylmer's Revenge,’ London, 1876. 6. ‘Both in the Wrong,’ London, 1878, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1886. 7. ‘Godwyn's Ordeal,’ London, 1879, 8vo. 8. ‘Till Death us do Part,’ London, 1881, 8vo. 9. ‘Gabrielle de Bourdaine,’ London, 1882, 8vo. 10. ‘Mr. Nobody,’ London, 1884, 8vo. 11. ‘Recollections of a Country Doctor,’ London, 1885, 8vo. 12. ‘Trust Me,’ London, 1886, 8vo. 13. ‘Kept Secret,’ London, 1888, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1889. 14. ‘Her Brother's Keeper,’ London, 1888, 8vo. 15. ‘Lady Hazleton's Confession,’ London, 1890, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1892. 16. ‘No Humdrum Life for Me,’ London, 1892, 8vo. 17. ‘A Waking,’ London, 1892, 8vo. 18. ‘A Strange Temptation,’ London, 1893, 8vo. 19. ‘A Modern Quixote,’ London, 1894, 8vo. 20. ‘Thirteen Doctors’ (short stories), London, 1895, 8vo. 21. ‘The Wooing of Doris,’ London, 1895, 8vo.
[Allibone's Dict. of Authors, Supplement ii. 1373; Boase and Courtney's Bibliotheca Cornubiensis, iii. 1339.]