Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Mechanical engineer and ironfounder, of Dublin. Arthur William Spence, only son of WILLIAM SPENCE WILLIAM SPENCE , of the Cork Street Foundry and Engineering Works, was born in 1864.  He was apprenticed to his father and then entered the family works. He became manager circa 1894 and proprietor in 1907 following his father's death. He ran the business until about 1924. For health reasons he then retired to Bath, where he died on 29 January 1928. He was buried with his parents in Mount Jerome Cemetery. He had married Selina Jane, daughter of Mervyn Paget Crofton, of Stamer Street, in 1893 and had three children, the eldest of whom was WILLIAM NEEDHAM SPENCE. WILLIAM NEEDHAM SPENCE. (1)

ICEI: elected associate, 6 December 1893;(2) transferred to class of associate member, 6 December 1899;(3) transferred to class of member, 4 February 1914; council member, 1914-15.(4)
Institute of Mechanical Engineers: member.

Addresses: Home: 109 Cork Street, 1893; 11 Brighton Avenue, Rathgar, <=1896->=1903; Lithgow, 12 Oakley Road, Ranelagh, <=1907->=1922.



References

All information in this entry is from ICEI membership applications, III, 11, and IV, 162, from the brief obituary of Spence in IB 70, 4 Feb 1928, ?, and from Catherine Scuffil's short paper, '"Engines and iron":  William Spence; and Son Ltd. : a review of a Dublin industry' (2008) (copy in IAA). 

(1) ) 1911 Census, >http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000142303/ (last visited Mar 2009).
(2) TICEI 23 (1893-94), ?.
(2) TICEI 28 (1898-1901), ?.
(3) Lists of officers for 1914-15 in TICEI 40 (1913-14).
(4) From lists of members in TICEI and Thom's Official Directory for 1907.