TORRENS, ROBERT

born 1780, Hervey Hill, County Derry, Ire. died May 27, 1864, London, Eng. British economist, soldier, politician, and promoter of schemes for the colonization of Australia. Torrens joined the Royal Marines in 1796, achieving the rank of lieutenant a year later; by the time of his retirement (1837) he was a full colonel. Torrens was wounded in command of the defense of the island of Anholt (1811), and he began to study economics during the course of the siege. He was elected to the British House of Commons for various constituencies (182635), served as chairman of the South Australian Colonization Commissioners (1835), and was a major shareholder in the newspaper Globe and Traveller. He was a founding member of the influential Political Economy Club. Torrens was best known as an economics writer. Initially he supported the case for paper money, but later he became a major spokesman for the currency school led by David Ricardo. This strict monetary approach, which basically incorporated the beliefs of the bullionists, advocated a gold standard and regulation of the banks' ability to issue currency, on the theory that prices are lowered when the supply of money is controlled. Torrens became one of the most able defenders of the Bank Act of 1844, which rigidly controlled the amount of currency. He also made some original contributions to the theory of comparative cost and to the principle of reciprocal demand. He was one of the first to point out the benefits to a country of an import tariff. Torrens was highly regarded among the classical economists and influenced much legislation.