| John McIntosh Spence
Engineer Lieutenant
details by Shelley Clarke
John McIntosh Spence was born on 26 Nov 1854 at East Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland and died of pneumonia and heart failure aged 59 on 8 July 1916 at 353 Danks Street, Middle Park, South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He was buried in the Presbyterian section of Melbourne's Brighton Cemetery on 10 July 1916.
(details: John McIntosh Spence Location: Pres "J" 137 Burial Number: 10090 Buried: 10 Jul 1916 Age: 59 yo Resided: Middle Park Occupation: Engineer Cause of Death: Pneumonia, Heart Failure Born: Greenock, Scotland)
The headstone inscription reads:
JOHN M. SPENCE
dearly beloved husband of
FLORENCE SPENCE
died 8th July 1916.
For 28 years engineer lieut of R.A.N.R.
He was but words are wanting to say what.
Think what a man should be and he was that.
"One of the best".
John emigrated to Victoria as a small boy with his parents, David Enverdale SPENCE and Mary Ellen SPENCE (nee BOALE), and several siblings around 1860. At the age of 29, he married Florence Sarah MURRAY in Sydney on 21 Aug 1886 and their marriage produced five sons, Albert, John, Norman, David and Allen, the latter two being twins. (Florence Sarah moved back to Sydney very soon after John's death. She died in Haberfield on 22 July 1944 and is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.)
His profession was Marine Engineer and he reached the rank of Engineer Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve and, prior to that, the Victorian Colonial Navy. He is listed as serving on Cerberus and at the Swan Island depot.
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