In October 1916, just behind the Western Front, he met Mrs Mary Borden-Turner, an American novelist with three daughters who wrote under her maiden name of Mary Borden and was a wealthy heiress.
 When Spears first met Mary – 'May' as she was known – she had used her money to set up a field hospital for the French army.
The attraction was mutual and by the spring of 1917 she and Louis had become lovers.
They were married at the British consulate in Paris some three months after her divorce in January 1918.
Their only child, Michael, was born in 1921.
He contracted osteomyelitis when he was a teenager and ill health would dog him throughout his life.
He nevertheless won a scholarship to Oxford and entered the Foreign Office.
However, he suffered from depression and became unable to work, dying at the age of just 47.

The financial security which Spears and May had enjoyed thanks to her family fortune came to an end when she lost her share of the wealth in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

May resumed her work for the French during the Second World War having established the Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit in 1940 with funds from Sir Robert Hadfield, the steel tycoon.
The unit was staffed with British nurses and French doctors.
May and her unit served in France until the German Blitzkrieg in June 1940 forced them to evacuate to Britain via Arcachon.
From May 1941, with funds provided by the British War Relief Society in New York, the medical unit served with Free French forces in the Middle East, North Africa, Italy and France.

In June 1945, a victory parade was held in Paris; de Gaulle had forbidden any British participation.
However, vehicles from May's Anglo-French ambulance unit took part – Union Jacks and Tricolours side by side as usual.
De Gaulle heard wounded French soldiers cheering, "Voilà Spears!
 Vive Spears!"
and ordered that the unit be closed down immediately and its British members repatriated.
May commented, "A pitiful business when a great man suddenly becomes small.".
May wrote to General de Gaulle protesting at his order, and speaking in the name of the French officers who had been attached to her unit.
The general replied, denying that her unit had been dissolved because of the flying of the British flag; he maintained that a decision had already been taken to dissolve six of the nine mobile surgical units attached to his forces.
May's reply of 5 July was bitter: 'From you I have had no recognition since February 1941 [...] but our four years with the 1st Free French Division have bound to us the officers and men of that Division with bonds that can never be broken.'
Mary Borden died on 2 December 1968; her obituary in The Times pays tribute to her humanitarian work during both world wars and describes her as 'a writer of very real and obvious gifts'.
In October 1916, just behind the Western Front, he met Mrs Mary Borden-Turner, an American novelist with three daughters who wrote under her maiden name of Mary Borden and was a wealthy heiress.  When Spears first met Mary – 'May' as she was known – she had used her money to set up a field hospital for the French army. The attraction was mutual and by the spring of 1917 she and Louis had become lovers. They were married at the British consulate in Paris some three months after her divorce in January 1918. Their only child, Michael, was born in 1921. He contracted osteomyelitis when he was a teenager and ill health would dog him throughout his life. He nevertheless won a scholarship to Oxford and entered the Foreign Office. However, he suffered from depression and became unable to work, dying at the age of just 47.
The financial security which Spears and May had enjoyed thanks to her family fortune came to an end when she lost her share of the wealth in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
May resumed her work for the French during the Second World War having established the Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit in 1940 with funds from Sir Robert Hadfield, the steel tycoon. The unit was staffed with British nurses and French doctors. May and her unit served in France until the German Blitzkrieg in June 1940 forced them to evacuate to Britain via Arcachon. From May 1941, with funds provided by the British War Relief Society in New York, the medical unit served with Free French forces in the Middle East, North Africa, Italy and France.
In June 1945, a victory parade was held in Paris; de Gaulle had forbidden any British participation. However, vehicles from May's Anglo-French ambulance unit took part – Union Jacks and Tricolours side by side as usual. De Gaulle heard wounded French soldiers cheering, "Voilà Spears!  Vive Spears!" and ordered that the unit be closed down immediately and its British members repatriated. May commented, "A pitiful business when a great man suddenly becomes small.". May wrote to General de Gaulle protesting at his order, and speaking in the name of the French officers who had been attached to her unit. The general replied, denying that her unit had been dissolved because of the flying of the British flag; he maintained that a decision had already been taken to dissolve six of the nine mobile surgical units attached to his forces. May's reply of 5 July was bitter: 'From you I have had no recognition since February 1941 [...] but our four years with the 1st Free French Division have bound to us the officers and men of that Division with bonds that can never be broken.' Mary Borden died on 2 December 1968; her obituary in The Times pays tribute to her humanitarian work during both world wars and describes her as 'a writer of very real and obvious gifts'.
Edward Spears