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	{{short description\|British psychologist}}		{{short description\|British psychologist}}
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	~~[[File:Edgar Anstey 1917-2009.jpg\|thumb\|right\|Dr. Edgar Anstey]]~~
	Dr. '''Edgar Anstey''' (5 March 1917 – 1 June 2009) was a British [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)\|Civil Service]] [[psychologist]] who worked for the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)\|Ministry of Defence]] and who is most noted for his incidental role during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of 1962.<ref name=Guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/sep/07/edgar-anstey-obituary Obituary for Edgar Anstey], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 7 September 2009</ref>		Dr. '''Edgar Anstey''' (5 March 1917 – 1 June 2009) was a British [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)\|Civil Service]] [[psychologist]] who worked for the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)\|Ministry of Defence]] and who is most noted for his incidental role during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of 1962.<ref name=Guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/sep/07/edgar-anstey-obituary Obituary for Edgar Anstey], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 7 September 2009</ref>

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{{short description|British psychologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Edgar Anstey 1917-2009.jpg|thumb|right|Dr. Edgar Anstey]]
Dr. '''Edgar Anstey''' (5 March 1917 – 1 June 2009) was a British [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|Civil Service]] [[psychologist]] who worked for the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] and who is most noted for his incidental role during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of 1962.<ref name=Guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/sep/07/edgar-anstey-obituary Obituary for Edgar Anstey], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 7 September 2009</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:20130215 Kings College Chapel Hi-res 01.jpg|thumb|right|Anstey took a First Class degree at [[King's College, Cambridge]] in 1938]]
Edgar Anstey was born in [[Mumbai]] in India in 1917 where his father [[Percy Anstey]] (1876–1920), a former actor turned [[Economics|economist]], was Principal of the [[Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics]] and Professor of Economic Theory and History. His mother was [[Vera Anstey]] ''née'' Powell (1889–1976), also an economist and authority on the economy of India. In 1920 Anstey's father and younger brother died in [[Delhi]] of [[cholera]] necessitating Vera Anstey to return to Britain with her two surviving children.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/61350 |title=Anstey, Vera |last=Thomas |first=J.J.|work=[[Dictionary of National Biography#Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2004 |accessdate=9 May 2020 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Who>[https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-5583?rskey=urlkQ3&result=8 Dr Edgar Anstey - Who's Who and Who Was Who - Oxford University Press {{subscription}}]</ref><ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1518/47369_22021000034_2448-00248?pid=18175243&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1518%26h%3D18175243%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Dgmn2%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=gmn2&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 (1921) for Edgar Anstey - Ancestry.com {{subscription}}]</ref>

Left with few resources after the death of her husband, Vera Anstey needed to find work to support herself and her children and began a distinguished career as a lecturer at the [[London School of Economics]], while Edgar was brought up by two of his mother's sisters in [[Reigate]] in [[Surrey]]. Academically able, he obtained a scholarship to [[Winchester College]] and later another to [[King's College, Cambridge]] where he obtained a double first degree in Mathematics and Psychology in 1938. On graduating he spent a year as a ministerial [[Private Secretary]] in the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|Civil Service]] before being called up in 1939 at the start of [[World War II]]. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the [[Dorset Regiment]] he had 18 months of active service in defending the Yorkshire coast from possible enemy invasion and was promoted to Major. He married Zoë Lilian Robertson (1913–2000) in 1939<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8753/ons_m19392az-0027/56053360 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 for Edgar Anstey 1939 - Ancestry.com {{subscription}}]</ref> and with her had a son, David Anstey. From 1941 to 1945 Anstey was at the [[War Office]] where his skills as a psychologist were put to use improving the selection tests used for army recruits.<ref name=Guardian/><ref name=Who/><ref name=BPS>[https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/bps.org.uk/files/Member%20Networks/Divisions/DOP/A%20true%20pioneer%20of%20Occupational%20Psychology%20whose%20influence%20made%20itself%20felt%20on%20the%20world%20stage%20at%20a%20time%20of%20crisis.pdf Obituary for Edgar Anstey] - [[British Psychological Society]]</ref>

==Civil service==
In 1945 at the end of the War Anstey founded the research unit for the [[Civil Service Commission (United Kingdom)|Civil Service Commission]] with responsibility for finding alternatives to the traditional written exams candidates were required to sit. After working at the [[Home Office]] from 1951 to 1958 and then for the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] he was appointed Chief Psychologist at the Civil Service Commission. As senior principal psychologist in the Ministry of Defence, in October 1962 Anstey travelled to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1277/42804_336771-01053/6913511?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/55172462/person/260111643958/facts/citation/822177888882/edit/record New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1967 for Edgar Anstey - New York, 1957-1967 - Ancestry.com {{subscription}}]</ref> during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] where he made use of his psychological expertise to assess the likely impact of nuclear warfare on the population.<ref name=BPS/> Anstey made warnings to [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]], Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir [[Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman|Solly Zuckerman]], Chief Scientific Adviser, the members of the Joint Inter-Services Group for the Study of All-Out Warfare (JIGSAW) and the US [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] concerning the dangers of escalating an already tense situation, and emphasising the importance of negotiation and conciliation, rather than a pre-emptive strike. Eventually this was the response followed by President [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref name=Guardian/><ref name=Who/><ref name=BPS/>

Anstey was Director of the Behavioural Sciences Research Division (BSRD) of the Civil Service Department from 1969 to 1977.<ref name=BPS/> When the Civil Service Commission merged with the personnel management division of [[HM Treasury]] to create the [[Civil Service Department]] in 1969 Anstey was the Deputy Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research until his retirement in 1977. During the 1960s and 1970s he wrote a number of books which explained serious occupational psychological matters with a light and humorous touch.<ref name=Guardian/> His publications included: ''Interviewing for the Selection of Staff'' (with Dr. E. O. Mercer, 1956); ''Staff Reporting and Staff Development'' (1961); ''Committees, How They Work and How to Work Them'' (1962), all published by [[Allen & Unwin]], and ''Psychological Tests'' (Thomas Nelson, 1966).<ref>[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032258X6804100410 Publications of Dr. Edgar Anstey - SAGE Journals]</ref> During this period he completed a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] at [[University College London]], under the supervision of Sir [[Cyril Burt]].<ref name=Who/><ref name=BPS/>

==Later years==
Strong-willed and an independent thinker, he often came into conflict with those in positions above him which perhaps explains why he did not receive an honour at the end of his 36-year career in the Civil Service in 1977.<ref name=BPS/> An enthusiastic surfer and walker, on his retirement Anstey and his wife moved to [[Polzeath]] in [[Cornwall]] where they had regularly spent family holidays since the 1950s. He got involved in local politics on behalf of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], becoming a constituency officer and then President of the local party from 1985 to 1990.<ref name=Guardian/><ref name=Who/>

His wife predeceased him in 2000. Edgar Anstey died at [[Polzeath]] in 2009 aged 92 and was survived by his son, David Anstey, and four grandchildren.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anstey, Edgar}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mumbai]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:Dorset Regiment officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century British civil servants]]
[[Category:English psychologists]]
[[Category:20th-century psychologists]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]
[[Category:War Office personnel in World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Edgar Anstey (psychologist) - Revision history

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