Mary Spence
  John Spence
S The Wards of Embsay
  Thomas Spence of Lamb Close
  Jonathan Spence of Middlesmoor
   
   
   
   
   
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The story of the Spences of Skipton tracks the lineage of one Mary Spence who married James Bramley, woolcomber, from Skipton in North Yorkshire, in 1808.

The Spence family were agricultural labourers and worked in Barden. But the family originated from Lamb Close in Netherdale or Nidderdale, and ultimately from Dallowgill. This story reflects the changes in population movements in the eighteenth century as enclosures began to take their toll.

The conections with the Ward family, again can be followed back to Thomas Spence of Lamb Close in Netherdale through a female line. But the Spence family disappears into the vagaries of the Middlesmoor Parish Registers in the sventeenth century.

Whilst there is a Spencer family in Skipton that founded the famous Marks and Spencers chain. No evidence has been found of a connection with this line. John Spencer was born in Skipton in 1851. For more details on his family and how they link to the Horners of Pateley Bridge see William Horner of Pateley Bridge and Embsay.

This story is in its beginnings, more work will be forthcoming.