He was born in 1867 in the
Stoke Newington district of London to William Spensley and Elizabeth Alice Richardson. Although he was born and grew up in London, the Spensley family were originally from the
Swaledale area in
Yorkshire. Richardson Spensley had the opportunity to travel far and wide as an adult. Amongst the most keen interests which he had acquired whilst travelling were
eastern religions, languages (he was versed in
Greek and
Sanskrit),
boxing and
football. In addition to working as a doctor, he spent some time as a correspondent for the British newspaper the
Daily Mail. This was innovative as the modern day footballing scene in Italy was in its embryonic stages: if it had not been for
Edoardo Bosio who founded four clubs in
Turin, there would have been no football at all in Italy at the time of Richardson Spensley's arrival. Richardson Spensley acted as player-manager for Genoa in the first ever
Italian Football Championship (which he initiated) during
1898 which his club won. The following season, he switched position from defender to goalkeeper, playing on until 1906. Including the first title, Genoa won the Italian league six times while Richardson Spensley was at the helm. After retiring from playing when he was almost 40 years old, he stayed on in the management role for one more year, before leaving entirely.
Scouting While living in England he became acquainted with
Robert Baden-Powell who founded the
Scout Movement, from whom he had received a signed copy of
Scouting for Boys. In 1910 genoan pedagogist
Mario Mazza, who had founded in 1905 a youth movement called
Le gioiose, decided to join scouting with his group. He approached
Sir Francis Vane, another Briton living in Italy and former collaborator of Baden-Powell, who had founded the first Italian
scout troop in
Bagni di Lucca in 1908. Vane came to Genoa to hold a lecture, and referred Mazza to Spensley. Spensley and Mazza together founded the first scout troops in Genoa and joined the newly born association
Ragazzi Esploratori Italiani (REI), the first scout association in Italy. Mazza was Section Secretary and Spensley regional commissioner for Liguria. The Genoa section was one of the most active in the early years of scouting in Italy, and Mazza and Spensley are counted amongst the pioneers of Italian scouting.
Death During
World War I, he worked in the medical field putting his scouting abilities to use as a lieutenant in the
Royal Army Medical Corps. He was injured on the battle field while tending to the wounds of an enemy out of
compassion. As an officer, he was interned in the
Fortress of Mainz, in Germany, where he died of his wounds not long after. His body was one of many moved in 1922 from smaller graveyards to larger cemeteries in Germany (no British bodies were returned to Britain). Spensley was reburied at
Niederzwehren War Cemetery south of
Kassel. His final burial location remained unknown until 1993, when two Italian scouts, after long research, managed to locate it again. ==Honours==