Robert Spence

Robert Spence inherited one-eighth of the Houndean Manor, just outside Lewes, Sussex, from his father, John Spence, after his death in 1713. John Spence had also purchased a second eighth of the manor and bequeathed it to his wife, Anne. The estate later passed to his daughters, Anne (d. 1737) and Elizabeth, and then to the heirs of his son, Robert. The widow Spence held court there in 1739; these courts were continued by her daughter Elizabeth and her sister, Ruth. See The Victoria History of the County of Sussex, vol. 7, ed. L. F. Salzman (London: University of London, Institute of Historical Research, 1940), 35-36; Broome, A Bruised Reed, 110.