ANSTEE FAMILY HISTORY

This page is dedicated to the history of the branch of the Anstee family from Doynton and Dyrham in Gloucestershire.

The Anstee (or Anstey, Anstie) name is quite uncommon, and by 1881 was largely concentrated in the West Country (notably Gloucestershire, Devon, Somerset and Dorset), with a stray area of concentration in Bedfordshire. It appears to have derived from a series of related placenames in Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Wiltshire, a pattern corresponding to the later distribution of the name.

Robert Anstee appears to have arrived at Dyrham Hall in Gloucestershire from Devon as a Royalist footsoldier at the time of the English Civil War. His descendants settled in the area and multiplied in the area around Dyrham and nearby Codrington and Doynton down into the 19th century. A partial outline of the family is attached (the descendants of Robert Anstee of Codrington, fl. 1780), and it is hoped to add a more substantive summary (based on previous research by another researcher) in the near future.

Another branch of the Anstees being researched (by Ruth Sunderland) links to Sarah Anstee, born c.1822 in Hertfordshire and married (to John Bowen) in 1841 in London.

Anyone interested in further details of this branch of the Anstee family, or who is able to provide additional details relevant to this branch, is invited to contact the coordinator for this page Ian Hall.

This page was last updated 01 December 2008