Robert Richard Torrens

Lieutenant Colonel
Sir Robert Torrens
GCMG
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Robert Torrens GCMG
	Torrens in an 1880 illustration
Premier of South Australia
	In office; 1 September 1857 – 30 September 1857
Monarch	Victoria
Governor	Sir Richard MacDonnell
Preceded by	John Baker
Succeeded by	Richard Hanson
Treasurer of South Australia
	In office; 3 January 1852 – 21 August 1857
Preceded by	B. T. Finniss
Succeeded by	John Hart
Member of the House of Assembly; for the City of Adelaide
	In office; 3 March 1857 – 1 July 1858
Preceded by	seat established
Succeeded by	J.M. Solomon
Member of the South Australian Legislative Council
	In office; 21 February 1851 – 2 February 1857
Preceded by	In office; 10 December 1868 – 26 January 1874
UK Politics
Member of Parliament; for Cambridge
	In office; 10 December 1868 – 26 January 1874
Preceded by	Sir John Gorst
Succeeded by	Sir Alfred Marten
Personal details
Born	31 May 1812; Cork, Ireland, United Kingdom
Died	31 August 1884 (aged 72); Falmouth, Cornwall, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Barbara Anson (née) Park
Parent(s)	Robert Torrens and Charity Herbert (née) Chute
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin

Sir Robert Richard Torrens, GCMG (31 May 1812^[1]^[2] – 31 August 1884), also known as Robert Richard Chute Torrens, was an Irish-born parliamentarian, writer, and land reformer. After a move to London in 1836, he became prominent in the early years of the Colony of South Australia, emigrating after being appointed to a civil service position there in 1840. He was Colonial Treasurer and Registrar-General from 1852 to 1857 and then the third Premier of South Australia for a single month in September 1857.

Torrens is chiefly remembered as the originator of the Torrens title, a new system of land registration that subsequently spread to the other Australian colonies and is used in Australia and in many other countries throughout the world today. He secured its implementation in South Australia in 1858, and subsequently advocated for its adoption in other jurisdictions. Returning to England in 1865, he served in the British House of Commons from 1868 to 1874.

He was son of the political economist Robert Torrens, who was chairman of the London-based South Australian Colonisation Commission involved in setting up and encouraging emigration to the new colony.

^ Peter Moore (2003). John Healey (ed.). S.A.'s Greats: The Men and Women of the North Terrace Plaques. Historical Society of South Australia. p. 137. ISBN 0957943008. One early reference gave 1814 as his year of birth, which has been repeated ad nauseam. Modern historians have settled on 1812.
^ Croucher, Rosalind F. (2008) 'Delenda Est Carthago!' Sir Robert Richard Torrens and his attack on the evils of conveyancing and dependent land titles: a reflection on the sesquicentenary of the introduction of his great law reforming initiative Alex Castles Memorial Legal History Lecture for Flinders University Law School, Adelaide, 26 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2020.

[1] Peter Moore (2003). John Healey (ed.). S.A.'s Greats: The Men and Women of the North Terrace Plaques. Historical Society of South Australia. p. 137. ISBN 0957943008. One early reference gave 1814 as his year of birth, which has been repeated ad nauseam. Modern historians have settled on 1812.

[Croucher-2] Croucher, Rosalind F. (2008) 'Delenda Est Carthago!' Sir Robert Richard Torrens and his attack on the evils of conveyancing and dependent land titles: a reflection on the sesquicentenary of the introduction of his great law reforming initiative Alex Castles Memorial Legal History Lecture for Flinders University Law School, Adelaide, 26 August 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2020.

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