James Spence

James Spence FRSE FRCSEd (1812-1882) was a Scottish surgeon. He served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1867/68. Life He was born on 31 March 1812 at 12 South Bridge in Edinburgh, the son of James Spence, a perfumer, and his third wife. He was educated at a boarding-school in Galashiels and afterwards at the Royal High School, Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, but left to be apprenticed to Messrs. Scott & Orr, a firm of Edinburgh chemists, at 100 South Bridge. He managed, however, to complete his medical education in the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine and in 1832 received the diploma of Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.