Robert Torrens

Sir Robert Richard Torrens, (31 May 1812 – 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. Early life Torrens was born in Cork, Ireland, on 31 May 1812. He was the only surviving son of Robert Torrens and his first wife Charity Herbert née Chute. His father had this marriage nullified and in 1819 married again, to Esther Serle, an English heiress, and had his three children rebaptised to give them a form of legitimacy, Robert Richard's birth year being reset to 1814.