Robert Torrens (economist)

Colonel Robert Torrens (1780 in Hervey Hill, Derry – 27 May 1864 in London) was a Royal Marines officer, political economist, MP, owner of the influential Globe newspaper and prolific writer. Born in Derry, Ireland, he was the son of Robert Torrens of Hervey Hill. The Torrens family, thought to be descended from a Swedish officer in the service of William III of England, were a large and prominent Derry family. Among his numerous cousins were Sir Henry Torrens, the distinguished military adviser, and another Robert Torrens, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).

Military career
Torrens entered the Royal Marines in 1796. He achieved renown in 1811 by overseeing the defence of the Baltic island of Anholt against superior Danish forces. On the 200th anniversary of the battle of Anholt, the sword presented to Torrens was purchased by the Royal Marines Museum. After divesting the island in August 1812, the garrison was redeployed to Northern Spain in the winter of 1812 with Major James Malcolm, alongside Spanish forces. Torrens returned to London on 31 August, however, and was ordered to report to Woolwich Divisional Headquarters.

Although the Dictionary of National Biography 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 and Edward Nicolls, requesting that Torrens is not to be seconded to the Spanish army, but that Nicolls should take his place. The outcome is unsure, but it appears that a Capt Baillie went instead. Torrens was subsequently appointed the officer commanding the Marines on HMS Blenheim, and performed this duty from 23 June 1813 to 11 January 1814. His final deployment was off the Low Countries during the winter of 1813–4, at the siege of Antwerp. He was in Portsmouth in March 1814. Torrens saw no further active service but he remained in the Royal Marines until 1834, spending the period 1823–30 on half-pay.

Economist
He was an independent discoverer of the principle of comparative advantage in international trade, which principle is usually attributed to David Ricardo although Torrens wrote about it in 1815, two years before Ricardo's book On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation was first published. He was a strong advocate of Catholic Emancipation, publishing a tract and a novel on the subject.

Torrens was a founder member of the Political Economy Club. He was also one of the first to theorize about the optimal tariff, predating J. S. Mill's thoughts on the subject by 11 years. His advocacy of reciprocity rather than unconditional free trade in the 1840s was highly controversial, and he was later cited as a precursor by supporters of Joseph Chamberlain's tariff reform campaign.

Torrens was a strong advocate of state-sponsored emigration to relieve population pressure in the United Kingdom (particularly in Ireland; he argued that Irish living 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 laborers who must somehow be supported during the transition period.) He took a prominent role in the foundation of South Australia as a colony, and chaired the first commissioners set up to oversee it; he was sacked in 1841 for financial mismanagement and conflict of interest (he had bought land in the colony). The River Torrens, which runs through Adelaide, is named in his honour.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in December 1818.

Politics
He represented Ipswich, Suffolk as a Whig in the House of Commons in 1826, Ashburton, Devon in 1831 and, as its first MP, the new constituency of Bolton, Lancashire from 1832 to 1835.

Writer
The Annual 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 the Globe 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."

Family
He died 27 May 1864, aged 84.

His son Robert Torrens, the colonial Premier of South Australia, invented the Torrens title system of registering land titles, which is widely used in the British Commonwealth and other states (e.g. Iowa) and countries.

Works
His works number 36 on Allibone's list:
 * The Economists Refuted, 1808. ["Economists" in this context refers to supporters of the French Physiocratic theory that agriculture was the only real source of wealth.]
 * Celibia Choosing a Husband (1809), a novel
 * An Essay on Money and Paper Currency, 1812.
 * An Essay on the External Corn Trade, 1815.
 * An Essay on the Production of Wealth, 1821.
 * Letters on Commercial Policy, 1833.
 * On Wages and Combination, 1834.
 * The Colonization of South Australia 1835
 * The Principles and Practical Operation of Sir Robert Peel's Bill of 1844, 1844.
 * Tracts on Finance and Trade, 1852.