Spence, William Guthrie, 1846 – 1926

William Guthrie Spence (1846-1926), trade unionist and parliamentarian, was born at Orknay, Scotland, son of James and Jane Spence. The family arrived in Victoria around 1852. Spence had no formal schooling and worked as a shepherd, a miner and a butcher-boy, becoming involved in the trade union movement through the Amalgamated Miners' Union. He was general secretary of the union between 1882 and 1891 and in 1886 was appointed the foundation president of the Amalgamated Shearers' Union. In 1894 he was involved in combining several small bush unions with the ASU to found the Australian Workers' Union, of which he was secretary 1894 to 1898 and president 1898 to 1917.

Spence was elected a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the seat of Cobar (1898-1901) and was elected to the first federal parliament in 1901 for the NSW seat of Darling (1901-1917). [ref:ADB 6]