Educated at St. Paul's School, London and at St. John's College, Oxford before joining the Indian Civil Service in 1911. There he had a distinguished career holding many responsible posts which was rewarded by a knighthood when he left India in 1946. He subsequently joined the Colonial Service and spent two years in Nyasaland before retiring to Chalfont St. Peter where he lived until his death.

Ansorge undoubtedly acquired his interest in insects from his father, Dr W.J. Ansorge, the celebrated explorer and naturalist. Throughout his time in India Ansorge collected nsects, including beetles, extensively (see, for example, ‘On a collection of Carabidae from the Kumaon- Tibetan frontier’ by H.E. Andrewes, Ent.mon.Mag., 62, 1926, 69).

After retirement Ansorge traveled to many parts of Britain, especially to the Scottish Highlands, and made several trips overseas, always collecting where he went. Baron de Worms in his obituary (Proc.Brit.ent.nat.Hist.Soc., 10, 1977, 29-30) described him as 'quite an expert on our Coleoptera' and noted that he had 'made a fine collection’. This is apparently the collection which passed to the Buckinghamshire Museum, Aylesbury and there is also a collection of Lepidoptera from Africa in the Birmingham Museum, presented by Sir George Kenrick.

Ansorge was a member of BENHS and of the RES, and on his death left a bequest to the AES which continues in the form of the Ansorge Award for the best junior exhibit at the annual exhibition. (MD 7.01, 6/18)