{{Short description|Scottish educationalist and academic}} {{About|the educationalist|the Chief Justice of India|Patrick Spens, 1st Baron Spens|his son, the peer|William Spens, 2nd Baron Spens}} {{Use British English|date=February 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} '''Sir William Spens''', [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] (31 May 1882 – 1 November 1962) was a Scottish educationalist, academic and Master of [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]].<ref name="odnb">{{cite news |last1=Gosden |first1=Peter |title=Spens, Sir William [Will] (1882–1962) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-36214 |access-date=2 May 2019 |work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36214|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>
==Life== Born in [[Glasgow]] on 31 May 1882,<ref>1962 Burke’s Peerage p. 1368</ref> one of four sons of John Spens and Sophia Nicol, Spens was educated at [[Rugby College|Rugby]]<ref>[[Who's Who|"Who was Who" 1897–2007]] London, [[A & C Black]], 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-19-954087-7}}</ref> and [[King's College, Cambridge]], graduating in [[natural sciences]]. Elected a [[Fellow]] of [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]] in 1907, he spent the rest of his working life in Cambridge, apart from [[World War I|wartime service]] between 1915 and 1918 with the [[Foreign Office]], for which he was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] in 1919, was made a chevalier of the [[Légion d'honneur]] by the French and appointed an officer of the [[Order of the Crown of Italy|Crown of Italy]].<ref name="odnb"/>
Elected [[Master (college)|Master]] of [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Corpus]] in 1927<ref>[[The Times]], Wednesday, 3 October 1928; p. 21; Issue 44701; col A ''University News, New Term Begun at Cambridge''</ref> he was [[Vice Chancellor]] of the University of Cambridge from 1931 to 1933 and then chaired the consultative committee of the [[Board of Education (United Kingdom)|Board of Education]] (known in retrospect as the Spens Report<ref>[http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ165353&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ165353 Education Resources Information Center]. Eric.ed.gov. Retrieved 2012-06-04.</ref>) which recommended the tri-partite split of secondary schooling into grammar, technical and modern varieties.<ref>''A History of English Education, from 1760'' Barnard, H.C: London, University of London Press, 1961</ref>
During the Second World War he was Regional Commissioner for [[Civil Defence]] for the Eastern Region, which prompted and exacerbated rumours that the cellars of [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Corpus]] extend across (and indeed further than) the entire college campus and that the college was to be used as the centre of operations for [[East Anglia]] in the event of a German occupation.<ref>[http://www.britainexpress.com/counties/cambridgeshire/az/cambridge/corpus-christi-college.htm Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]. Britainexpress.com (17 January 2007). Retrieved 2012-06-04.</ref><ref>[http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/about-corpus/maps-and-tours/take-a-virtual-tour/216 Wine Cellars]. Corpus.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-04.</ref> Spens wished to maintain the high moral ground in fighting the Nazis. He opposed the use of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines to oppose any Nazi invasion as being contrary to international convention. He objected first to the plans of SIS in June 1940 and then to the operation of the [[Auxiliary Units]] - threatening to have them arrested!<ref>{{Cite book|title = Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939 - 1945|last = Atkin|first = Malcolm|publisher = Pen and Sword|year = 2015|isbn = 978-1-47383-377-7|pages = 7}}</ref>
Spens retired in 1952.
==Personal== Spens married Dorothy Teresa, daughter of [[John Richardson Selwyn]] in 1912; they had four children; a son and three daughters, one of whom died in infancy.<ref name="odnb"/>
Spens died on 1 November 1962.<ref>''Sir Will Spens – Servant of College and State '' [[The Times]] Friday, 2 November 1962; p. 15; Issue 55538; col A</ref>
==See also== [https://web.archive.org/web/20100406010840/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/spens/ Text of the Spens Report]
==Notes== <references/>
'''Attribution:''' * {{DNB|wstitle=Spens, William (1882-1962) <!--NB dash not ndash on wikisource--> |display=Spens, William (1882–1962)}}
{{S-start}} {{S-aca}} {{Succession box|title=[[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge#List of Masters of Corpus Christi|Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]|years=1927–1952|before=[[Edmund Courtenay Pearce]]|after=[[George Paget Thomson]]}} {{S-aca}} {{Succession box | title = [[Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge]] | years = 1931–1933 | before = Allen Beville Ramsay | after = [[John Forbes Cameron]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spens, William}} [[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:British educational theorists]] [[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Members of HM Foreign Service]] [[Category:Masters of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]] [[Category:People educated at Rugby School]] [[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge]] [[Category:1882 births]] [[Category:1962 deaths]] [[Category:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]