// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Jean Spender? Someone who spends jeans.
Jean Maud Spender nee Henderson, Lady Spender, (1902 – 25 March 1970) Australian writer, was born in Burwood, New South Wales to parents Sam Brown Henderson and May Kathleen Henderson.[1][2]
Jean Spender attended Presbyterian Ladies' College, Croydon and Presbyterian Ladies' College, Pymble, and at the time she knew she wanted to be a novelist, however she did not start writing until after she was married.[3]
On 6 April 1925, she married the then-barrister Sir Percy Spender[4] at Coraki in Northern New South Wales. Percy later became a politician and diplomat and was made KCVO, KBE, QC. The couple had two sons.[5] One son, John Spender, was also a politician and diplomat. The other, Peter Beaufort Spender,[6] wrote and produced several documentary films.[7]
Jean Spender wrote crime thrillers and detective novels, often under the pen of "J. M. Spender".[8][9] Most are set in Sydney with a lightly disguised Percy Spender as the hero.[10][11] In 1968, she published Ambassador's Wife, which provides a rich record of Percy's time as Australia’s Ambassador to the USA from 1951 to 1958.[12][13] According to a review in The Canberra Times:
"Lady Spender did not set out to write a political biography of her husband, but to give a "woman's view of life in politics, diplomacy and international law. As her involvement in these activities arose from her husband's role as politician, ambassador, justice (and later President) of the International Court of Justice, it is not surprising that she should feature the high lights of his career."[14]
Lady Spender was also at one stage Chairman of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF).[15]
Spender was an aunt of Dale Spender, feminist scholar, teacher and writer, and the grandmother of Allegra Spender, elected as the Member of Parliament for Wentworth in 2022, and Bianca Spender, Australian fashion designer.[16][17]
Bibliography
[edit]Source:[11]
- The Charge Is Murder!,[19] Sydney: Dymocks, 1933 (novel)
- Death Comes in the Night,[4] London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1938 (novel)
- Full Moon for Murder, London: Evans Brothers, 1948 (novel)
- Seven Days for Hanging, London: Robert Hale, 1958 (novel)
- Murder on the Prowl[8], London: Robert Hale, 1960 (novel)
- Death Renders Account, London: Robert Hale, 1960 (novel)
- Ambassador's Wife, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1968 (autobiography)
References
[edit]- ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #1870/1902
- ↑ "U.S. Women No Better Off Than We Are, Says Lady Spender". Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW). 15 August 1952. p. 11.
- ↑ "WOMEN YOU OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT -- No. 3". The Sun (Sydney, NSW). 22 July 1937. p. 33.
- 1 2 Watson, Jnr, Dr. (29 October 1938). "Mystery Of The Week". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW). p. 4.
- ↑ Lowe, David, "Sir Percy Claude Spender (1897–1985)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 27 October 2023
- ↑ "Spender's son weds". The News (Adelaide, SA). 23 June 1954. p. 36.
- ↑ Austlit. "Peter Spender | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
- 1 2 "LADY SPENDER'S NEW THRILLER". The Canberra Times (ACT). 7 May 1960. p. 13.
- ↑ Spender, J. M. (11 September 1937). "DEATH COMES IN THE NIGHT". The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW). p. 11.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Return to Spender". Archived from the original on 21 April 2015.
- 1 2 Austlit. "J. M. Spender | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
- ↑ Spender, Jean (1986). Ambassador's Wfe. Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson (published 1968).
- ↑ Oakman, Daniel (2010). FACING ASIA: A History of the Colombo Plan. Canberra, Australia: ANU E Press. ISBN 9781921666933.
- ↑ Lyall, E. A. (16 March 1968). "Sir Percy, rather larger than life". The Canberra Times (ACT). p. 11.
- ↑ "Society Entertains Ambassador To U.S." Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW). 15 January 1954. p. 21. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
- ↑ Crowe, David (14 October 2022). "Allegra Spender pays tribute to father John Spender after his death". Sydney Morning Herald.
- ↑ "Blue blood and green cred".
- ↑ "Jean Spender". Good Reads. 2026.
- ↑ "The LIBRARY". Sydney Mail (NSW). 23 August 1933. p. 16.
External links
[edit]- Papers of Sir Percy Spender (including those of Jean Spender.) Accessed 10 February 2015.
- Photograph of Jean and Percy Spender at State Library of New South Wales. Accessed 10 February 2015.