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Phillip Anstruther (born 25 May 1802 - 22 May 1863) was a British public servant, coffee planter and served as the fourth Colonial Secretary of Ceylon (1833-1845).

Phillip Anstruther was born 25 May 1802 at Elie, Fife, Scotland, the oldest of three children to Colonel Robert Anstruther, the member for Anstruther Burghs (1793-1794) and Anne née Nairne. His grandfather was Sir John Anstruther, the baronet of Nova Scotia.

On 18 December 1819, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Ceylon Civil Service beginning as extra assistant to the Colonial Secretary and was subsequently appointed Collector of Colombo. On 1 October 1833 he was appointed as Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, taking up a position on the Executive Council of Ceylon on 7 November 1837. On numerous occasions he was called upon to take on the role of acting Governor of Ceylon. From 1840 onwards, Anstruther purchased 1,535 hectares (3,793 acres) of crown land in the high lands around Kandy, on which he established a number of coffee plantations.

He married Mary Frances Stewart Mackenzie (1819-1913), daughter of James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie, the Governor of Ceylon (1837-1941), on 27 July 1838 in Scotland. They had eleven children: Mary Helen (b. 1839); Robert Durham (b. 1841); Annie Nairn (b. 1843); Jemima Stewart (b. 1845); Philip Morrison (b. 1846); Stewart (b. 1848); John Newdegate (b. 1850); Caroline Petre (b. 1928); Keith Francis George (b. 1854); Henry Lewis (b. 1856); and Charles William (b. 1858).

In October 1838 he went on extended leave and was in London for two years and four months, during which time he advised the Colonial Office. His assessment of the state of affairs in Ceylon, resulted in the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord John Russell, reviewing a number of the recommendations of the Colebrooke–Cameron Commission. He retired from the Ceylon Civil Service in 1845.

In 1845 he was the inaugural chairman of the Ceylon Railway Company, which was established to construct and operate the colony's first railway. In 1849 he was called to present evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee on sugar and coffee planting, where he was heavily critical of the administration of Governor Torrington.

He died on 22 May 1863 (at the age of 60) in London, England. He is buried in Saint Cuthbert's Churchyard, Edinburgh, Scotland.

References

1. ^ Anstruther, A. W. (1923). History of the family of Anstruther. London: William Blackwood & Sons. p. 187.
2. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.
3. Toussaint, James Reginald (1935). Annals of the Ceylon Civil Service. Colombo Apothercaries Company, Limited. p. 77.
4. The Ceylon Calendar for the Year of Our Lord 1830. Nicholas Bergman. 1830. p. 139.
5. House of Commons (1845). "Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons". 31. Colonial Office: 14. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. Ormsby, Margaret A. (2011). A Pioneer Gentlewoman in British Columbia: The Recollections of Susan Allison. UBC Press. p. x. ISBN 9780774843539.
7. MacKenzie, Alexander. "History of the MacKenzies". Retrieved 11 November 2021.
8. Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage (and companionage) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Dean & Son. 1881. p. 11.
9. Bastiampillai, Betram E. S. J. "The Rajah of the North - Percival Acland Dyke - Proconsul of the British in mid nineteenth century Northern Sri Lanka" (PDF). p. 178.
10. "University of Ceylon Review". 21–25. University of Ceylon. 1963: 153. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
11. Mills, Lennox A. (2012). Ceylon Under British Rule, 1795-1932. Routledge. p. 241. ISBN 9781136262715.
12. Ratnasinghe, Aryadasa (3 January 1999). "A historic journey in 1864". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
13. Historical and Social Publications Board. "The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies". 7–10. Peradeniya: 155. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
14. "Monetary and Commercial". The London and China Telegraph. 1863. p. 305.

• People from Elie and Earlsferry
• 1802 births
• 1863 deaths
• Chief Secretaries of Ceylon
• Sri Lankan people of Scottish descent