Provenance: Private Collection, London

New South Wales born Spence became an illustrator for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Illustrated Sydney News and The Bulletin, he also exhibited at London's Royal Art Society. His illustrations appeared in prominent publications such as Punch, Black & White, Graphic and Britain's Austral Empire.

A Royal Academy exhibitor, Spence's work is also hung in the collections of National Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery, London and Mitchell Library, Sydney, University of Sydney & Australia's High Court. A work titled H M Australian Fleet arriving at Sydney Heads and a portrait Rear-Admiral George Patey are in the Buckingham Palace Collection, London.