Obituaries Australia

The death is announced of the Hon. Howard Spensley, formerly Solicitor-General of Victoria, at the age of 65. Mr. Spensley, the 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 he returned to England, where he had 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, though by only five votes. Mr. Spensley had, since his residence in England, always shown a strong interest in Australian affairs, particularly those of the colony of Victoria, and was one of the Board of Advice to the Agent-General. He was also one of the representatives of the colony of Victoria on the Council of the Imperial Institute. Mr. Spensley, who was a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, as well as of the Royal Geographical Society, was chairman of the London Board of the Federal Bank of Australia, now defunct. 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 was 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. A private cable states that Mr. Spensley died in London on Friday.