Herbert Marshall Spence was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England on 26 September 1883. He was articled to Edwin Fewster Waugh Liddle (1869-1940) of Liddle & Browne in Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 1902 to 1905 and remained with him as his assistant until 1907. He also attended Armstrong College in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He worked as an assistant to Edmund Walter Wimperis (1865-1946) and John Reginald Best (1866-1950) of Wimperis & Best in 1907, and in H. M. Office of Works from 1908 to 1911.
In 1911 Spence emigrated to China and was employed in the China Office of the Ministry of Works until 1919 when he formed a partnership with Robert Ernest Stewardson (1878-1961) as Stewardson & Spence in Shanghai. They were joined by Bryan Watson (c.1884-1927) in 1924 and the practice was renamed Stewardson, Spence & Watson. The partnership was dissolved in c.1927 and in 1928 Spence formed a new partnership, Spence, Robinson & Partners with Harold Graham Fector Robinson (c.1889-1966), Charles Frederick Butt (1883-?) and John Ewart March (1890-1984). The partnersip was dissolved in 1958. Spence also practised in Hong Kong from 1950.
Spence was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1927 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1929. He died in Hong Kong on 20 May 1958
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001