Torrens, Robert 1780-1864
Archival location guide — where this economist’s surviving papers are held, their notable correspondents, and key published sources.
Born 1780 · died 1864
Robert Torrens was a Royal Marines officer, political economist, part-owner of the influential Globe newspaper, and a prolific writer. He also chaired the board of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission created by the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the new colony 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 in Adelaide's main river, the Torrens, the suburb of Torrensville and a few other places.
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Extensive efforts by scholars over the years have failed to trace Torrens 's papers. Direct descendants have been contacted without success.
Correspondents
WILLIAM HENRY ARCHER, three letters, 1847-1864. Archer papers, National Library of Australia, MS. 71.
HENRY PETER BROUGHAM, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, 14 letters, 1831-1860. Brougham papers, University College London (UCL)
BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Earl of Beaconsfield, 11 letters, 1847-1850. Disraeli papers, National Register of Archives (NRA) 0842.
SIR JAMES GRAHAM, copies of several letters, n. d. Graham papers, NRA 2634.
JOHN GEORGE LAMBTON, 1st Earl of Durham, five letters, 1831-1839. Lambton papers, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand .
SAMUEL JONES LOYD, Baron Overstone, 60 letters, 1847-1863. Overstone papers, London UL, MS. 804.
SIR ROBERT PEEL, nine items, 1841-1845. BL Add. MSS. 40486-40557.
SIR JOHN GEORGE SHAW-LEFEVRE, four letters, 1837 and n.d. Shaw-Lefevre papers, House of Lords RO
EDWARD GIBBON WAKEFIELD, three items, 1839. Lambton papers, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington , New Zealand .
SIR ROBERT JOHN WILMOT-HORTON, 20 letters, 1826-1831. Catton collection, Derby Borough Library.
CHARLES WOOD 1st Viscount Halifax, ten letters, 1848-1860. Hickleton papers, NRA 8128.
Printed Material
LIONEL CHARLES ROBBINS, Robert Torrens and the Evolution of Classical Economics ( London, 1958).
New Palgrave; ODNB; Boase III 991; ESS XVI 652; IESS XVI 105.