The Port Elliot, South Australia Ansteys

by Gary. M. Anstey, chief researcher of the Anstey story project.

Many thanks to Julia for her help in constructing this pedigree.

Overview of the Port Elliot Ansteys

There were two distinct ‘Anstey’ families in Port Elliot, South Australia at the same time in the mid to late 1800s. The first family was headed by George Anstey (b c1838, son of Rev. George Richard Anstey), a member of the Milverton Anstey sub-branch. However this family line became Anstey-extinct in 1935.

The second family was headed by Charles John Anstey (b 1822 Lympstone), a member of the Otterton Anstey sub-branch – it is this second family which constitutes the Port Elliot Anstey sub-branch, so Charles John Anstey is the patriarch of the Port Elliot Ansteys and therefore the Port Elliot Ansteys are a sub-branch of the Otterton Ansteys.

George Anstey (b c1838)

George Anstey was born in c1838 in Aigley House in Devon (though the 1851 Census says ‘Oxfordshire’) to parents Rev. George Richard Anstey and Eliza James, hence he is a member of the Milverton Anstey sub-branch. George Anstey was living with his mother in Cheltenham in the 1851 Census and then he emigrated to Australia.

George Anstey married Laura Leworthy in Inglewood, Victoria, Australia in 1861 – the ‘South Australian Register‘ newspaper of 13 July 1861 reporting “ANSTEY—LEWORTHY.—On the 24th June, at Inglewood, Victoria, George Anstey, son of the late Rev. G. R. Anstey, of Devonshire, England, to Laura, youngest daughter of the late Captain Leworthy, R.N.“ George Anstey and Laura Leworthy had children:

  • George Malcolm Anstey (b 1862 Murp, Victoria, married Emily Beddome in North Adelaide in 1896. He died in 1935 in New Zealand with probate in Victoria, Australia. The ‘Wairarapa Times‘ 12 April 1935 edition reported that “Death: ANSTEY – At Masterton on 11 April 1935 George Malcolm Anstey late of Glenelg, South Australia, aged 73 years. Private internment“. He has a gravestone at Brighton (Saint Jude) Cemetery in Adelaide, as does his wife Emily who died in 1932. They had no children. George‘s probate in 1935 according to the ‘Adelaide Advertiser‘ 30 May 1935 edition was “Probate was also granted of the will of Mr. George Malcolm Anstey, of Giles Avenue, Glenelg. The estate is valued at £7,017, subject to deductions for debts and other liabilities. Gifts of £25 each are given to the Salvation Army, the Adelaide Children’s Hospital, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society. The remainder is left to relatives and friends.“);
  • Minnie Julia Stuart Anstey (b 1864 Encounter Bay, Port Elliot, died a child in 1866);
  • Bella Louisa Anstey (b 1867 Encounter Bay, Port Elliot, died 1894 in Port Elliot, buried in Port Elliot Anglican Cemetery);
  • Frank Stuart Leworthy Anstey (b 1869 Port Victor, Encounter Bay, married Charlotte Gwynne in 1903 in Adelaide. He died in 1911 in Blythewood, Upper Mitcham, South Australia and his widow died in the same place a year later in 1912. They had no children).

George Anstey died in 1869, the ‘South Australian Advertiser‘ newspaper of 15 November 1869 giving the following account: “COUNTRY NEWS. From our Country Correspondents. GOOLWA, November 13. A very sad and fatal accident occurred at our neighbouring township of Port Elliot on Wednesday night last about 10 o’clock. Mr. George Anstey, a resident there for some years, was returning home from visiting his friends at Port Victor, and, after spending some time at the Port Elliot Hotel, took his departure homeward about that hour on horseback. Not having proceeded more than 100 yards, he was heard to fall with great violence. Mr. Towler, the landlord of the hotel, had him conveyed immediately to the inn with the greatest care and promptitude, and instantly dispatched a messenger to Dr. Motherall at Port Victor, conveying intelligence at the same time to Mr. Anstey‘s friends residing there of the nature of the accident, so far as was then ascertained. No effort was wanting on the part of Mr. Towler, Police-trooper Simpson, Mr. Barrett (chemist), and the neighbours to minister to the necessities of the case, but it speedily became apparent no human aid was availing, the nature of the injuries being of such a brainial character as to afford no ground of hope whatever, and after lingering in total unconsciousness for two hours he died. An inquest was held early on the following day, when a verdict of accidental death was returned, with a rider. The proximate cause of death was the stirrup leather slipping off the saddle bow, for it was found on the ground some yards from the scene of the accident. This seems a reasonable hypothesis, for it is said deceased started away at a smart canter. The sudden withdrawal of the support on which he rested could not but be calculated to produce serious consequences. This melancholy termination of a useful life has produced a gloom over society, for, notwithstanding this being the only fatal accident, yet it only numbers one in the long chronicles of serious casualties which have occurred daring the last month in connection with horse-riding or driving. The deceased gentleman was only in his 32nd year ; a large portion of his life, I have understood, he spent in these colonies. Mr. Anstey was born at Aigley House, Devonshire, and is the only surviving son of the late Rev. George Anstey, M.A. The deceased was educated at Cheltenham College, and during the last two years he devoted himself to the conduct of a seminary at Port Elliot for the tuition of youths somewhat advanced in the earlier stages of scholastic pursuits, and preparatory to their fitness for the duties of life. The deceased was married to the youngest daughter of the late Captain Leeworthy, R.N., for whom and her family much sympathy is felt. The funeral took place yesterday, and was respectably attended. The Rev. Mr. Howell, of St. Jude’s, Port Elliot, officiated at the grave.“

George Anstey was buried in Port Elliot Anglican Cemetery. His widow Laura Anstey died in 1927 in Glenelg, South Australia, the ‘Adelaide Chronicle‘ of 26 November 1927 reporting “MRS. ANSTEY. Mrs. Anstey, who was a resident of South Australia for 78 years, died at Glenelg on November 8 at the age of 90. The youngest daughter of Captain Leworthy, R.N., she was born in England, and came to Australia with her parents in the ship John Brown. She married Mr. George Anstey, and they lived at Port Elliot for some years. A son, Mr. G. M. Anstey, of Glenelg, survives.“

Once their son George Malcolm Anstey died in 1935 (see above), this family line became Anstey-extinct.

Charles John Anstey (b 1822)

Charles John Anstey was born in 1822 in Lympstone to parents John Anstey and Harriet Storer; he is a member of the Otterton Anstey sub-branch and the patriarch of the Port Elliot Anstey sub-branch. In the 1841 Census, Charles John Anstey was living in Otterton with his family, he was described as a “carpenter’s apprentice“. In 1850, Charles John Anstey emigrated to Australia on the ship ‘Grecian‘, arriving in 1851 in Adelaide. He married Eliza Cereher (born in Ireland in c1834) in July 1854 at Trinity Church, Adelaide. Charles John Anstey indicated on the marriage certificate that he was “29 years old” and a “builder“. Charles John Anstey and Eliza moved to Waterport, Port Elliot, where they had children:

  • Thomas Henry Anstey (b 1855 Encounter Bay, died in 1900 in Echuca Hospital, Victoria);
  • Frederick Edwin Anstey (b 1856 Encounter Bay, may have lived in New Zealand for a while in the 1880s, married Catherine Dunn in 1893 in Summertown, Norwood South Australia, reported thus in the ‘Adelaide Advertiser‘ “ANSTEY—DUNN.—On the 31st January, at Summertown, by the Rev. J. Dingle, Frederick Edwin Anstey, of Kaniva, Victoria, second son of C. J. Anstey, late of Port Elliot, to Catherine (Kitty), youngest daughter of the late Thos. Dunn, late of Strathalbyn“. They had no children. Frederick Edwin Anstey was living in Burnside, Boothby, South Australia in 1939, he died in 1942 in Toorak Gardens, Norwood, South Australia, buried at Centennial Park Cemetery Pasadena, Mitcham City, South Australia (ANSTEY— The friends of the late Mr. Frederick Edwin Anstey are respectfully informed that his remains were removed from the residence of his niece Mrs. A L. Dalwood, 140 Grant Avenue, Toorak Gardens, on Saturday afternoon and peacefully laid to rest privately, in the Centennial Park Cemetery, Springbank“. His widow Catherine died in 1945, “ANSTEY.—On August 30, at a private hospital, Catherine, the dearly beloved wife of the late Frederick Edwin Anstey, of 140 Grant Avenue, Toorak Gardens, and loved aunt of Lilian (Mrs. A. L. Dalwood), aged 80 years” per the ‘Adelaide Advertiser‘);
  • Edward Alfred Anstey (b 1858, was a carpenter and later a politician who represented Adelaide from 1908 to 1915 and then North Adelaide from 1915 to 1921. In 1884 he married Mary Ann Glenie and they had two daughters Amy Eveline Anstey (b 1885, Kensington, Norwood, South Australia, married Stanley Garnet Mather in 1911 in Kensington, Norwood) and Eileen Winifred Anstey (b 1887 Kensington, Norwood, South Australia, married Stuart Gilbertson Hall in 1921 in Adelaide). Edward Alfred Anstey died in 1952 at Geelong – Anstey Crescent in Kurralta Park, Marleston, Adelaide is named after him);
  • Clara Louisa Anstey (b 1860, married David Ferdinand Frankel in Encounter Bay, Port Elliot in 1886);
  • Lucy Lavina Anstey (b 1863, married William Lane Peck in Encounter Bay, Port Elliot in 1888);
  • Katherine Evelyn Anstey (b 1866, married John W. Jamieson in Coolgardie in 1906);
  • Florence White Eliza Anstey (b 1869, married George Lambert in Norwood, South Australia in 1899);
  • Charles John Anstey (b 1871, married Fanny Louisa Smith and moved to Glenelg where they had numerous children including Edward Alfred Anstey who married Mavis Doreen Morgan in Glenelg in 1937 – see Further Details #2 below. This line has numerous Anstey descendants alive today);

Charles John Anstey was employed for a time as a carpenter in Port Elliot by the Southern Railway. In 1868 according to the ‘Southern Argus‘ 19 December 1868 edition “Charles John Anstey, carpenter Port Elliot, appeared to an information charging him with having stolen a quantity of hay…the court found the prisoner guilty and sentenced him to one calendar month with separate and solitary confinement“.

In August 1874 there was a local court case involving Eliza Anstey, who had been violently assaulted by Mrs Simmonds who, per the ‘Southern Argus‘ newspaper of 19 August 1875, “went to the house of the informant (Mrs. Anstey), and in her own kitchen accosted her, knocked her down, blacked her eye, and violently kicked her in other parts of the body“.

Eliza Anstey died in Adelaide Hospital in 1889, her death notice in ‘The Advertiser‘ newspaper reading “ANSTEY—On the 26th June, at Adelaide, Eliza, the beloved wife of C. J. Anstey, Port Elliot, aged 54 years. A colonist of 40 years. Her end was peace“. Charles John Anstey died in December 1903, he is buried with Eliza in West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia. The ‘Evening Journal‘ newspaper of 5 December 1903 noted “DEATHS. ANSTEY.—On the 4th December, at his son-in-law’s (Mr. D. Frankel) residence, Klemzig, Charles John Anstey, late of Port Elliot, in his 80th year. Arrived in the colony in 1851.”

Further Details on the Port Elliot Ansteys

#1. In Waterport Road, Port Elliot today stands a small schoolroom “in disrepair” but now an official Heritage Item, “The schoolroom is believed to have been built between 1850 and 1860 for [by?] C. J. Anstey, who conducted a private school for boys. His house, ‘Waverley’, stands on the adjoining block.“

#2. The marriage of Edward Alfred Anstey (son of Charles John Anstey b 1871 above) and Mavis Doreen Morgan in Glenelg in 1937 was written up in the ‘Southern Cross‘ newspaper 22 October 1937 edition, stating “ANSTEY—MORGAN WEDDING CELEBRATED AT GLENELG. A very pretty wedding took place, with Nuptial Mass, at Our Lady of Victories’ Church, Glenelg, on Saturday, September 18, when Mavis Doreen, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Morgan, North Esplanade, Glenelg, was married to Edward Alfred, third son of Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Anstey, of Osmond Terrace, Glenelg. The church, and especially the altar, were beautifully decorated for the occasion by the Dominican Nuns. The Rev. Father T. O’Rourke officiated. The bride, who entered the church on the arm of her father, was gowned in a frock of very fine white organdie lace over a crisp frock of white taffeta. The skirt was slightly flared from the high-waisted bodice, and the back panel merged into slight train. The long, tight-fitting sleeves were pointed and fell over the wrists. The beautiful tulle veil was held in position by a Juliet cap of silver latticed ribbon and sprigs of orange blossom. She carried a shower bouquet of hyacinths and lilies of the valley. The bridesmaids—Miss Kathleen Morgan (bride’s sister) and Miss Frances Anstey (bridegroom’s sister) —were frocked alike in white crepe erosa, exquisitely cut. Their crown less toques of pleated daffodil tulle, with shoulder-length veils, were worn over the face. They carried sheafs of daffodils and primroses, tied with huge bows of gold ribbon. The little flower girl was Maureen Morgan (a cousin of the bride). She wore an early Victorian dress of white silk tulle over white taffeta,. with a wreath of primroses, and she carried a small posy of primroses. Mr. John Anstey was best man and Mr. Maurice Watherstone was groomsman. A reception was held at the residence of the bride’s parents. Mrs. Morgan received the guests, gowned in a jacket suit of navy triple satin, worn with a waist coat of gold lame and a large navy straw hat trimmed with a gold mount. Her posy was of autumn flowers. The bridegroom’s mother, Mrs. Anstey, wore an ensemble of heavy black crepe de chene, with a black hat of fine Neora straw. She carried a posy of Lorraine Lee roses and forget-me-nots. Miss Alice Morgan wore a smart navy toilette and a shoulder spray of white camellias. Miss Doris Anstey wore navy bolero frock with Oriental blouse and girdle, with shoulder spray of gardenias. Mrs. W. J. Morgan wore a very smart brown redingote suit, brown curate hat with nose veil, a shoulder spray of daffodils and wall flowers. The bridal table was beautifully decorated with daffodils and arum lilies by Mrs. W. J. Morgan (bride’s aunt), who also made the three-tiered wedding cake. The bride travelled in a smart tailored costume of rust wool de chene, with a gold delustred blouse. A Breton sailor hat was made from the same material as the costume, and was trimmed with a gold-mounted feather. Mr. and Mrs. Anstey will live at Glenelg.“

We are actively on the lookout for Port Elliot, South Australia Anstey experts alive today who are willing to add their findings and knowledge to this project. We are particularly interested in research regarding Port Elliot, South Australia Ansteys who fought in World War One, preferably with personal souvenirs such as letters sent by the soldiers or military photos etc. 

Anybody who has such expertise and inclination, please contact us at research@theansteystory.com.

We have already uploaded bits of information and documentation about the Port Elliot, South Australia, and continue to upload more all the time (see Project Updates), however it is spread over various segments of the website.

The best way to find said information is to enter ‘Port Elliot’ in the search box at the bottom of this page and a list of relevant pages will appear.

Anybody who finds any mistakes on this page, please contact us at research@theansteystory.com and we will correct it.

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