Madeline Marjorie Ross was born in Tayport, Fife, on 5 April 1921 . Her father, Robert Ross, was a minister. Prior to attending the University of Glasgow, Madeline was a student at the Mount School in York. Madeline attended the University of Glasgow from 1939-1942 , taking classes in Latin, French and Geology in her first year; Latin, Moral Philosophy and Political Economics in her second and English (Ordinary), History (Ordinary), Social Economics and Political Philosophy in her third and final year. She was awarded a first class certificate in Political Economics and a second class certificate in Moral Philosophy in 1941. She graduated with an MA in June 1942 and subsequently worked as a social worker until she married John Hourston Spence (MA 1935, LLB 1938) in 1947. She died in Edinburgh on the 20 May 2006.
From the guide to the Papers of Madeline Marjorie Ross, 1921-2006, arts graduate, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1940, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
