Percy Spender

Sir Percy Claude Spender KCVO KBE QC (5 October 1897 – 3 May 1985), was an Australian politician, diplomat and jurist.

Spender was born in Sydney and educated at Fort Street High School and later the University of Sydney. He joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1915. He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1923 and was made a King's Counsel in 1935.

Spender entered politics at the 1937 election when he was elected to the House of Representatives as member for Warringah. He ran as an independent, defeating the sitting member, Sir Archdale Parkhill. Soon after his election, he joined the government party, the United Australia Party, and held the seat until his resignation from federal politics in 1951. From 1944 was a member of the Liberal Party.

Spender held a number of ministries in Robert Menzies' wartime government. He was Minister without portfolio assisting the Treasurer from April–November 1939, Vice-President of the Executive Council from January–March 1940, then Treasurer until October 1940 and then Minister for the Army until the fall of Arthur Fadden's government in October 1941. He was also a member of the Economic Cabinet (1939–1940), War Cabinet (1939–1941) and the Advisory War Council (1940–1945).

Upon Menzies' return to power in 1949, Spender was made Minister for External Affairs (19 December 1949 – 26 April 1951) and Minister for External Territories. Spender's greatest influence on Australian politics occurred during this period. He led Australian delegations to the British Commonwealth Conference in Colombo, Ceylon and to the Fifth Session of the United Nations General Assembly (of which he was the Vice-President).

At the conference in Colombo, Spender was instrumental in the development of the Colombo Plan (which had originally been known as the Spender Plan). He also played a large part in the signing of the ANZUS Pact and the Treaty of San Francisco (Japanese Peace Treaty; 1951).

Spender expressed more desire to secure alliances with 'great powers' than contribute to collective security, stating that international organisations like the UN may "contain those who are at work to disrupt the order we believe in". In this sense Spender was more akin to the realist tradition of Australian foreign politics linked to former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.

Play media

1954 TV interview

On leaving politics, Spender was appointed Australia's Ambassador to the United States (1951–58). He was the first Australian appointed to the International Court of Justice in The Hague (1958–1964) and was the Court's President 1964–67. Spender died in May 1985, aged 87.

Spender married Jean Maud Henderson on 6 April 1925 at St Mary Magdalene Church of England, Coraki, New South Wales. She became a crime-fiction writer and they had two sons. One son, John Spender, was also a politician and diplomat. Jean Spender died in 1970 and on 4 October 1975 at St Mark's Church of England, Darling Point, he married Averil Watkins Trenerry, née McLeod. The marriage was short-lived and they divorced soon after. He married Eileen Esdaile, née Congreve, in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1983. He was the last surviving member of the Menzies and Fadden Cabinets.

Percy Spender was knighted in 1952 as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1957, he was further created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. He was conferred the Grande Ufficiale Order of Merit by the Republic of Italy in 1976. He also received ten honorary doctorates. However, a personal rift between himself and Menzies prevented him from receiving the honour which he most desired, appointment to the Privy Council.