Benjamin Edward (or Evans) Spence
Born 1822 (Circa)
Died 28 October 1866
Active: 1838 - 1866
Country of birth: England
Country of death: Italy
Sculptor
Probably born in Liverpool. Baptised on 3 January 1823. His father was William Spence (1792-1849), sculptor and partner in Spence and Franceys (monumental masons). He belonged to the circle of William Roscoe, the Liverpool art patron. Benjamin attended the Liverpool Academy Schools c.1838. He was apprenticed to John Gibson (his father’s friend) in Rome, 1846 and to Richard James Wyatt. After Wyatt’s death in 1850, Spence completed his works. Spence only exhibited five times at the Royal Academy, preferring to sell his works directly from his studio in Rome. These works included the life-size recumbent statue of Devereux Plantagenet Cockburn, (1828–1850), an English soldier who is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. Amongst Spence's very few monumental and public works in England are a figure representing Liverpool for the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, and a memorial to Jonathan Brooks for St George’s Hall, Liverpool, 1856. Spence died in Leghorn.
Wealth at death: £1,500 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 10 September 1868
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Locations
Address Brownlow Street Liverpool | View on map
1841 (Circa)
Address 9 Via del Incurabile Rome | View on map
1849 (Circa) - 1866 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868
'Sabrina'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1849 - 1866
Exhibited 5 times, one work on each occasion (one portrait bust, and four ideal works)
Exhibited at Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures: the second (Free Public Library and Museum, Liverpool), 1872
1872
Highland Mary, an original model of the statue executed for Queen Victoria (cat. no. 957, not for sale).
Institutional and Business Connections
Designed for Wedgwood (Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd.)
1867
Design produced for Wedgwood in 1867. This was modelled by William Beattie: see Reilly and Savage, 'The Dictionary of Wedgwood' (1980), p. 323.
Personal and Professional Connections
Collaborated with Thomas Beattie
1867
Beattie modelled a design produced by Spence: see Reilly and Savage, 'The Dictionary of Wedgwood' (1980), p. 323.
Friends with Alfred Gatley
1852 (Presumed)
Met in Rome
Pupil of John Gibson
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
'Sculptor' also his father William Spence 'Sculptor'.
Sources
'Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome: New discoveries and an inventory of identified works'
2022
p. 198 and pp. 206-7
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
http://217.204.55.158/henrymoore/sculptor/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=2536&from_list=true&x=1 (accessed 9 August 2013)
Catalogue of the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds 1868
1868
Cat. No. 629i, p. 205
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
2010
HO107 piece 561 folio 20/14 page 21
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Benjamin Evans Spence
Probate Date: 11 Sep 1868
Death Date: 28 Oct 1866
Death Place: Rome, Italy
Registry: Principal Registry
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
Liverpool autumn exhibition of modern pictures, 1872 Walker Art Gallery
1872
p. 35.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Timothy Stevens, ‘Spence, Benjamin Evans (bap. 1823, d. 1866)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26107, accessed 17 Dec 2009]
The Dictionary of Wedgwood
1980
p. 323.
Citing this record
'Benjamin Edward (or Evans) Spence', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib4_1237558709, accessed 29 May 2023]
