Thomas Chisholm Anstey

Thomas Chisholm Anstey (1816 – 12 August 1873) was an English lawyer and one of the first Catholic parliamentarians in the nineteenth century. He served as Attorney General of Hong Kong for 4 years. He also wrote pamphlets on legal and political topics, particularly those relevant to Catholics.

Early life He was the second son of Thomas Anstey (1777–1851) and his wife Mary Turnbull, born in Kentish Town, London. In 1823, his father, a lawyer who had gone into commerce, moved to Tasmania, and he followed in 1827 with his elder brother George Alexander (1814–1895). In his early education he studied Hebrew with the minister James Garrett.

Anstey returned to England, intending to take up law, and was educated at school in Wellington, Somerset and at University College London. He came under the influence of the Tractarians, and also entered the Middle Temple, being called to the bar in 1839. He had become a Catholic convert, married that year, and moved with his wife to Hobart, Tasmania. He became a Catholic leader there, and achieved prominence for a court appearance (R. v. Espie, 1840). He lost a position as commissioner of insolvent estates after a few months.

Returning to England, Anstey took an appointment as Professor of Law and Jurisprudence at Prior Park College, Bath. By 1846 he had turned his attention to politics, and resigned.

Political career On entering politics in 1846, Anstey aligned with the more radical followers of Daniel O'Connell, who died in 1847, and supported William Smith O'Brien.

He was not renominated at Youghal in 1852, but contested Bedford in the general election of that year.

Legal career On Anstey's return to England, he joined the Northern Circuit before moving to practice at the Chancery Bar. After he dropped out of Parliament, in 1855, he was appointed Attorney General of Hong Kong and served in that capacity until 1859. His attempts to enforce building regulations on Chinese merchants led in 1858 to a strike, retrospectively named the "Anstey Riots".

Anstey left Hong Kong in 1859, having fallen out with the Governor Sir John Bowring. He went to Bombay where at times he acted as a judge of the High Court of Bombay in 1865. He came back to England in 1866 and in a tract entitled A Plea for the Unrepresented for the Restitution of the Franchise advocated universal suffrage as a panacea for the ills resulting from class legislation. He published an attack on the Reform Act 1867 proposed by Benjamin Disraeli. He was on the defence side in the Maharaj Libel Case.

In 1868 Anstey returned to Bombay and resumed his practice as a barrister.

Anstey died in Bombay on 17 August 1873, ending a life hampered by quarrels. He was buried at Sewri.

Works Anstey's publications included:

British Catholics and the New Parliament (1841), Guide to the Laws of England affecting Roman Catholics (1842)