Robert Torrens | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1780 (1780) Hervey Hill, Derry, Ireland |
| Died | 27 May 1864(1864-05-27) (aged 83–84) |
| Occupations | Political economist;politician;Royal Marines officer; publisher; writer |
| Notable work | Essay on the production of wealth, 1821 |
| Family |
|
Robert TorrensFRS (1780 – 27 May 1864) was aRoyal Marines officer,political economist, part-owner of the influentialGlobe newspaper, and a prolific writer. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by theSouth Australia Act 1834 to oversee the newcolony of South Australia, before the colony went bankrupt and he was sacked in 1841. He was chiefly known for championing the cause for emigration to the new colony, and his name lives on inAdelaide's main river, theTorrens, the suburb ofTorrensville and a few other places.
He is sometimes referred to asColonel Robert Torrens, but his final army rank is disputed in various sources. His son, SirRobert Richard Torrens, spent many years in South Australia, even serving for a short time as the statePremier, and became known for his land reform.
Torrens was born in Hervey Hill, Derry, Ireland, the son of Robert Torrens of Hervey Hill and his wife Elizabeth, née Bristow.[1]
The Torrens family, thought to be descended from aSwedish officer in the service ofWilliam III of England, were a large and prominent Derry family. Among his numerous cousins wereSir Henry Torrens, the distinguished military adviser, and anotherRobert Torrens, a judge of theCourt of Common Pleas (Ireland).[citation needed]
Torrens married Charity, daughter of Richard Chute of thetownland of Roxborough inCounty Kerry, in 1801 at Dublin.[1] They divorced in 1819, and Torrens went to England.[2] He married Esther Sarah, née Serle, in September 1820.[1]
Torrens' sonRobert Richard Torrens, administrator and politician in South Australia, invented theTorrens title system of registering land titles, which is widely used in theBritish Commonwealth and other states (e.g.Iowa) and countries.[3][4]
Torrens entered the Royal Marines in 1796. He achieved renown in 1811 by overseeing the defence of theBaltic island ofAnholt against superior Danish forces[5] in theWalcheren Expedition, during which he was severely wounded and was awarded the title ofbrevet major for his bravery. On the 200th anniversary of the battle of Anholt, the sword presented to Torrens was purchased by theRoyal Marines Museum.[6]
After divesting the island in August 1812, the garrison was redeployed to Northern Spain in the winter of 1812 with MajorJames Malcolm, alongside Spanish forces. Torrens returned to London on 31 August, however, and was ordered to report to Woolwich Divisional Headquarters.[7] Although theDictionary of National Biography (1885-1900)[8] makes reference to his being "appointed Colonel of a Spanish Legion", this claim has yet to be substantiated by other sources. There is a letter dated 16 January 1813, co-signed by Torrens andEdward Nicolls, requesting that Torrens not be seconded to the Spanish army, but that Nicolls should take his place.[9] The outcome is unclear, but it appears that a Capt. Baillie went instead.
Torrens was subsequently appointed the officer commanding the Marines onHMSBlenheim, and performed this duty from 23 June 1813 to 11 January 1814.[10] His final deployment was off theLow Countries during the winter of 1813–1814, at the siege ofAntwerp. He was back inPortsmouth in March 1814.[11]
According toDNB, Torrens was promoted to the rank ofLieutenant-Colonel in 1819, and to that ofColonel in 1837; however, he had retired on half-pay in 1835.[8] According to the provenance of a sword presented to Torrens in an auction catalogue, Torrens saw no further active service but he remained in theRoyal Marines until 1834, spending the period 1823–30 on half-pay. This says that the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1819 was only abrevet, and that he spent 1823 to 1830 on half-pay, being promoted tomajor in the Marines in 1831 and selling out in 1834.[12][13][14]
He is referred to as "Colonel Torrens" inHansard from November 1826[15] to August 1832,[16] and in the report of the 1831parliamentary select committee onsteam carriages, on which he sat (published in 1834).[17] He is similarly named in an 1832 piece inCobbett's Political Register, opposing his policies.[18]
TheDNB entry for his son, Sir Robert Richard Torrens, refers to the elder Torrens as "Lieutenant-Colonel".[19]
Torrens was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in December 1818.[20]
He was an independent discoverer of the principle ofcomparative advantage ininternational trade, which principle is usually attributed toDavid Ricardo although Torrens wrote about it in 1815, two years before Ricardo's bookOn the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation was first published. He was a strong advocate ofCatholic Emancipation, publishing a tract and a novel on the subject.
Torrens was a founder member of thePolitical Economy Club. He was also one of the first to theorise about the optimaltariff, predatingJ. S. Mill's thoughts on the subject by 11 years. His advocacy of reciprocity rather than unconditionalfree trade in the 1840s was highly controversial, and he was later cited as a precursor by supporters of Joseph Chamberlain'stariff reform campaign.
Torrens was a strong advocate of state-sponsoredemigration to relieve population pressure in theUnited Kingdom (particularly in Ireland; he argued that Irishliving standards could only be improved by making Irish agriculture more profitable, but that at the same time this would lead to massive short-term displacement of labourers who must somehow be supported during the transition period).
He had earlier been interested in a plan to found a settlement in New Zealand, in 1825 becoming a director of theNew Zealand Company, a venture chaired by the wealthyJohn George Lambton,Whig MP (and later 1stEarl of Durham), that made the first attempt to colonise New Zealand.[21][22][23] He was also interested inThomas Peel'sSwan River Colony (1829), but he only became personally involved in actual emigration schemes with theSouth Australian Land Company in 1831. After the failure of the SALC, he joined theSouth Australian Association, possibly hopeful of being appointed asGovernor of South Australia.[24]
This did not eventuate, but he was appointed chairman of theSouth Australian Colonization Commission, becoming one of 14 South Australian colonial commissioners, all but one of whom were based in London. This board was set up to oversee the newcolony of South Australia, and Torrens put considerable time and energy into writing and lecturing potential emigrants and investors to the colony. However, his financial administration was lacking in almost every respect: he spent money on promotional schemes; ordered costly surveys which disruptedWilliam Light's work of surveying the colony; gave preference to those who professed to have substantial means, but set up no mechanism to check their supposed wealth; and provided free passages in an unregulated way. He made little effort to helpGeorge Gawler, who had been appointed Resident Commissioner and Governor afterJohn Hindmarsh's departure, with little financial assistance from England. This mismanagement, along with other factors such as too much immigration too fast leading to unemployment, saw South Australia go bankrupt. Torrens was sacked in 1841 (although at the time, Gawler was made the main scapegoat for the province's woes) and theSouth Australia Act 1842 brought the colony under the direct rule of the Crown.[24][1]
He representedIpswich, Suffolk as a Whig in the House of Commons in 1826,Ashburton, Devon in 1831 and, as its first MP, the new constituency ofBolton, Lancashire from 1832 to 1835.[citation needed]
TheAnnual Register says: "He was an indefatigable writer; the productions of his pen, which include a great variety of tracts on subjects of political economy, some able pamphlets on the currency, and some literary efforts of a lighter class, extend over a period of fifty years. For some time Colonel Torrens was a part proprietor and editor of theGlobe newspaper. He was a skilful and lucid writer, and succeeded in throwing considerable light upon some of those abstruse questions connected with monetary science which are the stumbling block of economical students."[5]
Torrens died 27 May 1864, aged 84,[5] in London. He was survived by his second wife.[1]
He was admired for his treatises on political economy and other political ideas.[1]
Despite his energy and tireless advocacy for the colony of South Australia, Torrens was the man who effectively bankrupted it through his poor administration of its finances, leading to itsbecoming a Crown Colony in 1842.[24] However, in the 1840s he helped to reform companies which mined copper and built railways in South Australia.[1]
TheRiver Torrens (Kara-wirra-parri), which runs throughAdelaide, was named by Governor Hindmarsh in his honour in 1836, and Governor Gawler named the site of the first quarantine station,Torrens Island, in 1837.[1][25][24] The explorerEdward Eyre named the large salt lake in the north of the colonyLake Torrens in 1839, and the suburb ofTorrensville and the districts of East and West Torrens also commemorated Robert Torrens.[1]
Torrens Park, however, was named after his son, Sir Robert Torrens.[24]
His works number 36 on Allibone's list:
| Rank | Unit | Date of appointment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second Lieutenant | H.M. Marine Forces | 1 February 1796 | |
| Lieutenant | 18 November 1797 | ||
| Captain | Royal Marines | 26 July 1806 | |
| Brevet Major | 12 April 1811 | ||
| Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel | 12 August 1819 | On half-pay of the reduced Establishment of the corps 1823–30.[26] | |
| Major | 4 June 1831 | [27] |
This entry was first published in S.A.'s Greats: The men and women of the North Terrace plaques, edited by John Healey (Historical Society of South Australia Inc., 2001).
...first published in 1977.
including Thomas Shepherd's Journal and his coastal views, The NZ Company of 1825.
{{cite book}}:|website= ignored (help)Digitised 22 July 2009
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forIpswich 1826–1827 With:William Haldimand | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAshburton 1831–1832 With:William Stephen Poyntz | Succeeded by William Stephen Poyntz Second seat abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forBolton 1832–1835 With:William Bolling | Succeeded by |
