Spence was born in Bombay, India, the son of Urwin Archibald Spence, an assayer with the Royal Mint.
In 1929-1930 he spent a year as an assistant, along with William Kininmonth, in the London office of Sir Edwin Lutyens, whose work was to have a profound influence on Spence's style,[REF] where he worked on designs for the Viceroy's House in New Delhi, India.