Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1879 (Capt. T. H. Anstey, R.E.) very fine £600-700

Thomas Henry Anstey joined the Royal Engineers as Lieutenant on 25 June 1862, becoming Captain in August 1865. He served during the Zulu War with Newdigate’s Division in the advance from Koppie Allein, and was present at the battle of Ulundi. He subsequently made a triangulation survey of the route taken by the Division from Landman’s Drift to Entonjaneni. On his return to Maritzburg, he was ordered to prepare a detailed survey of the battlefield of Isandhlwana and the surrounding ground. He retired as a Colonel on 7 October 1896.

His younger brother, Lieutenant Edgar Oliphant Anstey, 24th Foot, was killed at Isandhlwana and his remains subsequently recovered by Captain Anstey and conveyed to England, and interred in the family vault in Woking Cemetery.