Cecil Torr
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Cecil Torr (11 October 1857, Mitcham, London – 17 December 1928) was a British antiquarian and author.{{acad|id=TR876C|name=Torr, Cecil}}
Early life
Torr was the son of a solicitor and was educated at Harrow School.{{Cite news |date=21 December 1928 |title=Death of Devon Author at Lustleigh |pages=8 |work=Western Morning News |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000329/19281221/115/0008 |access-date=15 May 2023}} Cecil Torr matriculated on 7 June 1876 at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating there B.A. 1880 and M.A. 1883. He had a brother who was also educated at Harrow; in Small Talk at Wreyland Torr remarks on his brother's prodigious memory and that he had died 25 years earlier.Small Talk at Wreyland; ser. 3, p. 112 (1979)
He was admitted in 1879 at the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in 1882.
Works
Torr inherited the family property of the Wreyland estate in Lustleigh, Dartmoor and took up a life of a country squire. He also travelled widely including to Moscow, Damascus, Granada and Sparta. The estate included Yonder Wreyland, where he lived, as well as the Hall House, Souther Wreyland, Bow Cottage, Barn House and a number of further buildings and grounds.{{Cite news |date=2 September 1932 |title=Wreyland Estate, Lustleigh, Under the hammer |work=Western Times |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000265/19320902/072/0008}}
He was a councillor for the Newton Abbot Rural District Council.{{Cite news |date=16 October 1925 |title=Lustleigh Roads |pages=7 |work=Exeter and Plymouth Gazette |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000511/19251016/026/0007}}
He is noted for writing Small Talk at Wreyland (3 vols., 1918–1923); the first volume was an unexpected commercial success.{{cite book|editor=McKitterick, David|editor-link=David McKitterick|title=A History of Cambridge University Press |volume=3, New Worlds for Learning, 1873–1972|year=1992|page=260|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=StdHI5XE1HAC&pg=PA260}} His 1894 book Ancient Ships deals with the structure of ships that sailed the Mediterranean in 1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D.{{cite journal |title=Fine Arts |journal=The Athenaeum |issue=3492 |date=29 September 1894 |page=426 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KEeAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA426}}
In 1905, Torr revived the tradition of Lustleigh May Day in the village, which continues to be held annually, with maypole dancing, morris dancing, and the attractions of a traditional English fete.{{Cite web|publisher=The Lustleigh Society|title=Lustleigh May Day - A History|url=https://www.lustleigh-society.org.uk/lustleigh-may-day-a-history/}}{{cite book|title=The seasons:an elegy for the passing of the year|url=https://archive.org/details/seasonselegyforp0000groo/page/124/mode/2up?q=lustleigh|last=Groom|first=Nick|year=2013}} He also donated a maypole to the nearby town of Bovey Tracey for their use.{{Cite news |date=22 March 1911 |title=Bovey Tracey |work=Western Morning News |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000329/19110322/169/0008}}
Selected publications
- {{cite book|title=Rhodes in ancient times|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1885|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008732255}}
- {{cite book|title=Ancient Ships|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1894|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000402083|access-date=2018-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210154710/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000402083|archive-date=2018-12-10|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite book|title=Interpretation of Greek music|year=1896|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858047163203;view=1up;seq=9}}
- {{cite book|title=Memphis and Mycenae: an examination of Egyptian chronology and its application to the early history of Greece|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1896|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006246661}}
- {{cite book|title=On portraits of Christ in the British museum|year=1898|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008891046}}
- {{cite book|title=Small Talk at Wreyland|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1918|volume=I|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101062191638;view=1up;seq=9}}{{cite magazine |title=Reviews |magazine =The Athenaeum|date=September 1918|issue=4633|pages=393–394|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000080768843;view=1up;seq=415}}
- {{cite book|title=Small Talk at Wreyland|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1921|volume=II|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101062191653;view=1up;seq=9}}{{cite news|title=More Small Talk at Wreyland|newspaper=The Spectator|date=26 November 1921|pages=707–708|volume=127|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015016412895;view=1up;seq=721}}
- {{cite book|title=Hannibal crosses the Alps|url=https://archive.org/details/hannibalcrossesa00torruoft|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1924}}
References
External links
- {{Gutenberg author|id=50117}}
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Category:19th-century English writers
Category:20th-century English writers
Category:People educated at Harrow School
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge