He was born into the Anglo-Norman Le Spring family, who held large estates in the County Palatine of Durham and Northumberland. He was the son of another Sir Henry le Spring, a knight, by an unknown wife. He served as a squire to Sir John Coilet of Barmelston. Henry le Spring was knighted himself after having fought for Henry III at the Battle of Lewes in 1264. He became Lord of the Manor of Houghton, near the present-day City of Sunderland, after it was granted to him by Robert Fitzgerald, Lord of Raby. The estates surrounding the town had been in the possession of the Spring family since shortly after the Norman Conquest, and a result it became known as Houghton-le-Spring. He served as Knight of the Shire for the Northumberland constituency at least once.