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{{Short description|English lawyer and Catholic parliamentarian}}
{{redirect-distinguish-text|Thomas Anstey|the writer [[Thomas Anstey Guthrie]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
[[File:Thomas Chisolm Anstey.jpg|thumb|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 Roman 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.<ref name="ADB">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |title=Anstey, Thomas (1777–1851) |id2=anstey-thomas-1709 }}</ref>

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.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=581|first=K. D.|last=Reynolds|title=Anstey, Thomas Chisholm}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Law Journal |date=1873 |publisher=Law journal. |page=496 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVdNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA496 |language=en}}</ref> 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). But he lost a position as commissioner of insolvent estates after a few months.<ref name="ADB"/><ref>{{cite web |title=R. v. Espie [1840] - Macquarie Law School |url=http://www.law.mq.edu.au/research/colonial_case_law/tas/cases/case_index/1840/r_v_espie/ |website=www.law.mq.edu.au}}</ref>

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.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref name="NK">Norton-Kyshe, ''History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong'', p367-8 citing a biographical notice</ref>

==Political career==

Anstey favoured the repeal of the Union both with Ireland and Scotland. He was a Liberal in English politics, but Walker classifies him as an Irish Confederate candidate when he was elected [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for the Irish constituency of [[Youghal (UK Parliament constituency)|Youghal]] in 1847. He was not renominated at Youghal in 1852, but contested [[Bedford (UK Parliament constituency)|Bedford]] in the general election of that year.<ref>''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922'', edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978); ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832-1885'', edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)</ref>

An opponent of [[Lord Palmerston]], Anstey often worked with [[David Urquhart]] as ally in foreign policy issues.<ref>{{cite web |title=Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts: Papers of David Urquhart |url=http://archives.balliol.ox.ac.uk/Modern%20Papers/Urquhart%20D/urquhartdintro.asp}}</ref> On first entering politics in 1846, he aligned with the more radical followers of [[Daniel O'Connell]], who died in 1847, and supported [[William Smith O'Brien]].<ref name="ODNB"/>

==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 [[Secretary for Justice|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".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bowman |first1=Marilyn Laura |title=James Legge and the Chinese Classics: A brilliant Scot in the turmoil of colonial Hong Kong |date=2016 |publisher=FriesenPress |isbn=9781460288849 |page=436 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AMRDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT436 |language=en}}</ref>

Anstey left Hong Kong in 1859, having fallen out with the Governor Sir [[John Bowring]].<ref>Norton-Kyshe, ''History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong'', Chap XXV and XXVI.</ref>   He went to [[Bombay]] (now [[Mumbai]]) where at times he acted Judge of the [[Bombay High Court|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. In 1867 he published an attack on [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s Reform Act of that year. He was from the defendant side in the [[Maharaj Libel Case]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317234302 |title=Imagining the Public in Modern South Asia |date=2018-02-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-23430-2 |editor-last=Ingram |editor-first=Brannon |edition=0 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315626208 |editor-last2=Scott |editor-first2=J. Barton |editor-last3=Tareen |editor-first3=SherAli K}}</ref>

In 1868 Anstey returned to Bombay and resumed his practice as a barrister.<ref name="CE">{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Thomas Chisholm Anstey|volume=1}}</ref>

Anstey died in Bombay on 17 August 1873, ending a life hampered by quarrels.<ref>[[s:Dictionary of Indian Biography/Anstey, Thomas Chisholm]]</ref> 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)<ref name="ODNB"/>
* ''Guide to the History of the Laws and Constitution of England in Six Lectures''<ref name="NK"/>
* ''[[:s:Crime and Government at Hong Kong|Crime and Government at Hong Kong]]'' (1859)

He was a contributor in its early years to the ''[[Dublin Review (Catholic periodical)|Dublin Review]]''.<ref name="CE"/>

==Family==
In 1839, Anstey married Harriet, daughter of Jarrard Edward Strickland of Loughlinn, County Roscommon, Ireland.<ref name="ADB"/><ref name="ODNB"/> She was one of a family of six sons, including [[Edward Strickland]], and four daughters.<ref>[[s:Historical account of Lisbon college/Appendix 3/N-S]]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title= A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong|last= Endacott|first= G. B.|author-link=George Beer Endacott|year= 2005|orig-year= 1962|publisher= [[Hong Kong University Press]]|isbn=978-962-209-742-1}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-thomas-anstey | Thomas Anstey }}

;Attribution
{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Thomas Chisholm Anstey |volume=1 |first=|last=}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Charles Cavendish, 1st Baron Chesham|Charles Cavendish]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Youghal (UK Parliament constituency)|Youghal]]|years  = [[1847 United Kingdom general election|1847]] – [[1852 United Kingdom general election|1852]]}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Isaac Butt]]}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Paul Ivy Sterling]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Secretary for Justice|Attorney General of Hong Kong]]|years=1855–1859}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Henry Adams]]}}
{{end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anstey, Thomas Chisholm}}
[[Category:1816 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922)]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1847–1852]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws]]