Robert Torrens

1780- 1864

Robert Torrens was a British economist; during the Napoleonic Wars, he served as an officer in the Royal Marines, but rejected this career to become a novelist and Member of Parliament instead. His first work in economics was The Economist Refuted (1808). His later works include Essay on the External Corn Trade (1815). Essay on Money and Paper Currency Production of Wealth (1812) and Letter to Lord Melborne (1837). Torrens was founder of the Political Economy Club and had considerable influence in the development of the Bank of England. He was foremost in promoting the ‘currency principle’ which was translated into policy in the Bank Act of 1844. Torrens’ ideas precisely reflect the doctrines of classical political economy that were current in his age.