{{short description|British actor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|right|Percy Anstey c1914 '''Percy Anstey''' (25 February 1876 – 23 November 1920) was a British stage actor of the early 20th-century who later studied Economics and became a lecturer and college Principal in India.
He was born as '''Percival Louis Page''' in Paris in 1876, the son of Mary Louisa ''née'' Anstey (1838–1895) and Captain Andrew Mathew Adolph Page (1837–1890), an army officer<ref name=Google>Christopher T. Husbands, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ACSNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA238 ''Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, 1904–2015''], Palgrave MacMillan (2019)- Google Books p. 238</ref> who separated from his wife soon after the birth of his son to go to Australia where he was appointed Secretary and Inspector of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines. He remained in Australia for the rest of his life.<ref>Giordano Nanni and Andrea James, [https://books.google.com/books?id=K-vLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 ''Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country''], Aboriginal Studies Press (2013) - Google Books p. 108</ref>
==Stage career== [[File:Percy Anstey and John Martin-Harvey.jpg|thumb|left|Percy Anstey (left) and John Martin-Harvey in ''The Breed of the Treshams'' (1903)]] Taking his mother's maiden name as his stage name, his theatre appearances include: Captain Cornelius Vandam/Messenger in ''Bonnie Dundee'' at the Adelphi Theatre (1899–1900),<ref>J. P. Wearing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=o5JWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 ''The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''], Rowman & Littlefield (2014) - Google Books p. 8</ref> Marzo opposite Harley Granville-Barker and Laurence Irving in ''Captain Brassbound's Conversion'' at the Criterion Theatre (1900),<ref>Wearing, ''The London Stage 1900-1909'', p. 39</ref> and ''Twelfth Night'' at the Lecture Hall, Burlington Gardens in London (1902–1903).
In 1902 he joined the company of John Martin-Harvey in a tour of the United States acting in ''A Cigarette Maker's Romance''/''Rouget De L'Isle'', ''The Children of Kings'' and ''The Only Way''.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/percy-anstey-29977 Broadway career of Percy Anstey] - Internet Broadway Database</ref> With Martin-Harvey he toured the provinces of Britain in ''A Cigarette Maker’s Romance'', ''The Only Way'', ''The Breed of the Treshams'' and ''Hamlet'', (1903-1904), ''Hamlet'' at the Lyric Theatre (1904-1905), and ''Eugene Aram'' on tour including at the Prince's Theatre, Bristol (1905-1906).<ref>[https://theatricalia.com/person/c0j/percy-anstey Career of Percy Anstey - Theatricalia website]</ref> His affair with the actress Amy Coleridge who had also been on Martin-Harvey's American tour with her husband the actor William Haviland lead to her divorce from her husband in 1904.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/2465/40243_625988_4438-00000/16617#?imageId=40243_625988_4438-00006 England & Wales, Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1918: 1904 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> In 1906 Anstey and Coleridge married.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8913/ONS_M19064AZ-1298/6574809 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 for Amy Matilda Cowlrick: 1906, Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref>
==Move to India== Anstey left his acting career to study Economics at the London School of Economics where he was President of the Students' Union, taking his B.Sc degree in 1910<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61488/47594_b377772-00008/3096434?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/60367813/person/412134021406/facts/citation/1122186592833/edit/record UK, University of London Student Records, 1836-1945 for Percy L Anstey: Graduate List (1930-1931) - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref><ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61488/47998_83024005549_1489-00544/3172186?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/60367813/person/412134021406/facts/citation/1122186593168/edit/record UK, University of London Student Records, 1836-1945 for Percy Louis Anstey: Student Registers, 1839-1912 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref><ref name=LSE>[https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsehistory/2018/04/11/dr-vera-anstey-so-absolutely-sane-clear-quick-intelligent-safe/ Dr Vera Anstey – “so absolutely sane, clear, quick, intelligent & safe”] - London School of Economics website</ref> and by 1911 was a lecturer in Economics at Sheffield University<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/2352/rg14_00238_0417_03/1107519?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/60367813/person/412134021406/facts/citation/1122186592556/edit/record 1911 England Census for Percy Louis Anstey: London, Hammersmith, South Hammersmith - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> before serving as the head of the Economics department at the University of Bristol.<ref name=Google/><ref name="Oxford Biography">{{cite ODNB |url=http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/61350 |title=Anstey, Vera |last=Thomas |first=J.J.|date=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/61350 |accessdate=2 July 2017 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1912 Anstey was appointed tutor of the Workers' Educational Association with a £30 a year grant made to the class by the University of Bristol.<ref>[https://www.wea.org.uk/sites/default/files/southwest-heritage-of-learning-project-book.pdf WEA South West: A Heritage of Learning] - Workers' Educational Association</ref> In 1913 after divorcing his first wife he married Vera Powell,<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8913/ONS_M19133AZ-0023/708211 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 for Percy L Anstey 1913 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> the economist and noted expert on the economy of India. All three of their children were born in India after he joined the Bombay Educational Department and took the role of Principal at the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Bombay in March 1914 accompanied by his wife. In June 1914 he was appointed Principal and Professor of English at the college, and in February 1916 was appointed Principal and Professor of Economic Theory and History.<ref name="Oxford Biography" /><ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61468/47593_83024005549_1597-00512/517758?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/60367813/person/412134021406/facts/citation/1122186593231/edit/record UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939 for Percy Louis Anstey: The India Office List 1920 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> In 1917 with Professors C. J. Hamilton and Gilbert Slater he co-founded the Indian Economic Association (IEA), the oldest and largest organisation of professional economists and policy makers in India.<ref>[https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2019/12/27/Vice-President-to-inaugurate-annual-conference-of-IEA-today.amp.html Vice-President to inaugurate annual conference of IEA (2019) - Indian Economic Association website]</ref>
He and Arthur Anstey, their youngest child, died in Delhi in India from cholera during November 1920.<ref name=LSE/><ref name="Oxford Biography" /> In his will he left just £138 2s 2d to his widow<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/31874_222817-00061/4912558?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/60367813/person/412134021406/facts/citation/1122186592344/edit/record England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Percy Louis Anstey 1921 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref> which resulted in Vera Anstey returning to the United Kingdom with their two surviving children, Mary Anstey (1916–) and the psychologist Edgar Anstey (1917–2009). She needing a job to support herself and her two children, took a role as an assistant lecturer in Economic History at the London School of Economics in 1921.<ref name="Oxford Biography" />
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anstey, Percy}} Category:1876 births Category:1920 deaths Category:Male actors from Paris Category:English male stage actors Category:English male Shakespearean actors Category:19th-century English male actors Category:20th-century English male actors Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Workers' Educational Association Category:British people in British India Category:English economists Category:Academics of the University of Sheffield Category:Academics of the University of Bristol Category:Academic staff of the University of Mumbai Category:Deaths from cholera in India