PETER SPENCE 259 



brother, Mr. James Spence, is now a well- 

 kown naval architect and consulting engineer 

 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



In 1831 the subject of our memoir was 

 married to Miss Agnes Mudie (second 

 daughter of Mr. Francis Mudie, linen manu- 

 facturer, Dundee), and who, during the many 

 years he had to struggle against all sorts of 

 difficulties, enough to have crushed almost 

 any other man, stood nobly by him, doing 

 her part in their struggle with exemplary 

 patience, courage, and devotion. She died in 

 1858, leaving a family of four sons and four 

 daughters. 



The grocery business proving unsuccessful, 

 and Mrs. Spence having started coffee rooms 

 with the same unfortunate result, she got her 

 husband to remove to Dundee. Here he 

 obtained a situation at the Gas Works; and 

 it was the insight into some of the chemical 

 operations connected with the manufacture 

 and purification of gas that laid the founda- 

 tions to the principal achievements of his 

 manufacturing career. 



At Dundee Peter Spence and his wife lived 

 in her mother's house, and there, in a small 

 wash-house about 1 2 feet square, he experi- 

 mented a great deal with gas products. 



