Edward Alfred Anstey (6 July 1858 – 2 July 1952) was an Australian politician who represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

multi-member An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

seats of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

from 1908 to 1915 and

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

from 1915 to 1921. He represented the

United Labor Party The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed ...

until 1917, when he joined the National Party. Anstey was born at

Port Elliot Port Elliot is a town in South Australia toward the eastern end of the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. It is situated on the sheltered Horseshoe Bay, a small bay off the much larger Encounter Bay. Pullen Island lies outside the mouth of t ...

, where he was educated at the local public school. He was a carpenter by trade, apprenticing locally before moving to

at the age of 24. He went into business as a builder and contractor, and later went into partnership with M. H. Gerard as Anstey & Gerard. He was a councillor of both the Kensington & Norwood and Burnside councils. He was also president of the South Australian Government General Workers Association. Anstey was elected to the House of Assembly for the Labor Party at a 1908 by-election, following the resignation of Ernest Roberts. He became Government Whip in the

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

government following the Labor victory at the 1915 election, but was expelled from the Labor Party alongside Vaughan in the 1917 Labor split over conscription, joining the new National Party. The National Party became the junior coalition partner under the new conservative Liberal Union government of

Archibald Peake Archibald Henry Peake (15 January 1859 – 6 April 1920) was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia on three occasions: from 1909 to 1910 for the Liberal and Democratic Union, and from 1912 to 1915 and 1917 to 1920 for its ...

, and in April 1918 Anstey was promoted to the ministry to replace colleague

Reginald Blundell Reginald Pole Blundell (4 February 1871 – 9 August 1945) was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1907 to 1918 and the Australian House of Representatives from 1919 to 1922. Blundell was born in the Adelaide suburb of Norw ...

, becoming Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Repatriation. He lost the agriculture ministry in December, but remained in his other portfolios until April 1920. He was defeated at the 1921 election. Anstey later served as secretary of the

Minda Home Minda Incorporated, established in 1898, provides support to children and adults with disability in Adelaide, South Australia and is the largest non-Government disability support organisation in the state. The not-for-profit organisation offers ...

for ten years from 1925. He died at

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

in 1952.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anstey, Edward 1858 births 1952 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly