Captain John Spence

Notes:

see the ancestry family tree at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/25614650/person/5005425444/facts for lots of information.

Dictionary of SA Biography 5:

Spence, John (*Orkney Islands, Scot., 22.12.1825
- tWynberg, CC, 23.2.1910), mercantile pio­neer, was the son of Magnus Spence and his wife, Elizabeth Mowatt. After service in the Merchant Navy he was commissioned in the Royal Navy, retiring with the rank of captain. In 1850 he was appointed by the Cape government to be the overseer of the guano islands off the south-west coast.
In 1855 S. became the junior partner in the firm of De Pass, Spence & Co., whose activities were widespread. It operated coastal shipping, was involved in sealing and whaling, and pioneered the export of shark's liver oil to Europe. It also traded as far as India and China. S. himself was in charge of the company's fleet and captained one of its schooners. He also played a leading part in designing and building two slipways for the repair of ships, one in Simon's Bay in 1859 and the other in Table Bay two years later. The firm augmented its fishing interests in about 1870 when, in con­junction with A. Ohlsson, it established a fishery at Sandwich Bay in South West Africa, the conti­nuing rights to which were recognised by the German government when it annexed the terri­tory in 1884.
S. separated from the De Pass brothers in 1873 and set up on his own as a merchant and shipping agent. He was by now a wealthy man and in 1881 he purchased part of the Old Wynberg estate, demo­lished its manor house and erected a large and ornate residence which he named Hawthornden.
He also in the meantime (1863) became one of the founder directors of the Cape Town branch of the Standard Bank of South Africa. It was S. who secured from a Nama chief a concession to pro­spect for minerals and precious stones round Pomona, to the south of the present Liideritz, an area which has since then proved to be extremely rich in diamonds. Unfortunately for himself he invested large sums in prospecting for diamonds in South West Africa and when these speculations proved unprofitable he became hard pressed for money. He had to sell his home in 1886 and after that seems to have occupied one small rented house after another in Wynberg and Kenilworth until he died. His tomb can still be seen in St John's cemetery in Wynberg next to those of his third wife and his daughter.
His first wife was Charlotte Summers Pitt­Rivers (1834--1861) and his second was her sister Mathilda Anne. Finally in Wynberg on 17.1.1871 he married Anna Gesina (1849-1928), daughter of Dirk Cloete of Alphen, Wynberg. There were no children of the first marriage, one daughter of the second and two sons of the third.
Spencer Bay in South West Africa is probably named after S. His old home, now Hawthorn­dene, passed to Sir Joseph Robinson* in 1891 and to Robinson's daughter, Princess Labia* in 1929. The Labia family have recently presented it to the Cape Provincial Administration for use as a cul­tural museum. R. R. LANGHAM-CARTER
Master of the Supreme Court,C.T.: Estate no. 647/1910; -Cape Arch., C.T.:
MOOC6/9/637;-Obituaries: Cape Times, 24.2.1910; South Africa, 26.3.1910.

John married Charlotte Summers Pitt-Pines on 19 Jan 1854 in St James, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Charlotte (daughter of William Pitt Pines and Ellen Dent Pillinger) was born in 1833 in Bristol, Somerset, England; was christened on 10 Nov 1833 in Bristol, St Mary Redcliffe, Gloucestershire, England; died on 15 May 1861. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Matilda Annie Pitt-Pines between 1861 and 1866 in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Matilda (daughter of William Pitt Pines and Ellen Dent Pillinger) was born in 1834; was christened on 3 Dec 1834 in St James, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England; died in 1872 in Bristol, Somerset, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Lilla Charlotte Spence was born on 18 Mar 1867; died on 20 Feb 1892 in Wynberg, Western Cape, South Africa; was buried in St. John's Cemetery, Wynberg, Cape Town, South Africa.

Family/Spouse: Anna Gesina Cloete. Anna (daughter of Dirk Cloete and Johanna Reiniera Catherina van Oosterzee) was born in 1849 in Bergvleit, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; died on 16 Jul 1928 in Plumstead, Western Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Magnus Spence was born about 1872 in South Africa; died between Oct 1947 and Dec 1947 in Barnstaple, Devonshire, England.
2. Henry Kenneth Spence was born about 1874 in South Africa; died on 29 Mar 1894 in Cape Point, Western Cape, South Africa.

Magnus + Elizabeth Mowat. Elizabeth was born in Birsay, Orkney Islands. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]