The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Spensley, Hon. Howard
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 Federal Bank of Australia. Mr. Spensley married in 1868 Sapie, daughter of the late Simon Staughton, a well-known squatter in Victoria. In 1881 he represented Victoria at the Venice Geographical Congress, in 1883 was Commissioner at the Exhibition in Amsterdam, and in 1891 was appointed representative of the colony on the Council of the Imperial Institute. He is a Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy. Mr. Spensley was an unsuccessful candidate for Dudley at the General Election in July 1892.