Wilfrid Spender

Sir Wilfrid Bliss Spender KCB CBE DSO MC (6 October 1876 – 21 December 1960) was a British Army officer, colonial administrator and civil servant who helped re-organise the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) into the Ulster Special Constabulary and was responsible for laying the foundations for the civil service of Northern Ireland. He served as Secretary to the government of Northern Ireland from 1921-1925 and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance from 1925-1944. He was knighted in 1929. His wife, Lady Spender (née Alice Lilian Dean; 1880-1966), was a member of the UVF Nursing Corps and worked in the Ulster Division Comforts Fund during World War I. Later in life Spender became a noted diarist.