Howard Spensley (1834 – 8 August 1902) was an Australian lawyer and politician and a British Liberal politician. Spensley was the son of William Spensley of Edmonton,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. He was educated at a mercantile academy and emigrated to Australia in 1859. He worked as a journalist in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

for several years. In 1864, he was called to the bar of the

Supreme Court of Victoria The Supreme Court of Victoria is the highest court in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 1852, it is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited and inherent jurisdiction within the state. The Supreme Court compri ...

and in 1871 was elected a member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

representing Portland. He was Solicitor-General of Victoria from 1871 to 1873, and Commissioner for Victoria to the London Exhibition of 1873. He married Martha Staughton from

Exford, Victoria Exford is a town in Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melton local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local governme ...

in 1868. He returned to England, where he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1876 and was representative of the

colony of Victoria The Colony of Victoria was a historical administrative division in Australia that existed from 1851 until 1901, when it federated with other colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the southeastern corner of the Australian ...

at the Geographical Congress held at Venice in 1881 and Commissioner for Victoria at the Amsterdam Exhibition of 1883. He was made a Privy Councillor of the Colony of Victoria and was one of the Advising Council of the Agent General for Victoria in London.Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
/ref> In the 1885 general election, Spensley was elected Member of Parliament for Finsbury Central but lost the seat in the 1886 general election. He died at his residence Earl's Court Square,

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

in 1902, aged 69.

References

External links

* 1834 births 1902 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1885–1886 People from South Kensington Members of the Middle Temple Politicians from Melbourne Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Solicitors-general of Victoria British expatriates in Australia {{England-Liberal-UK-MP-stub