Talk:Robert Richard Torrens#Year of Birth

Sir Robert Torrens was born in 1812, not in 1814 (see the Wakefield Companion to South Australian History. A man born in Ireland is a nIrishman, though the articles calls him an Australia. The River Torrens was named after Colonel Torrens, his father, not Sir Robert.

:I don't have that book. Please add it as an external reference, and fix the dates if required. The article says he was born in Ireland, but was an Australian politician (ie a politician in Australia). It seems he was also an English politician, in the British House of Commons. --ScottDavis 04:46, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

::Robert Torrens' father (also Robert Torrens) at least was a member of the House of Commons. He's referred to as Colonel Robert Torrens in the article (John Stuart Mill writes of him as "Colonel Torrens"). The Germans have an article on the father: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Torrens EnSamulili 17:52, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

This was added on 30 September 2009, over three years ago, by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Torrens&diff=next&oldid=307460764 this edit]. The anonymous editor provided no edit summary and no citation. All of their 6 edits to Wikipedia were made on that day.

I can find no independent corroboration of the date. It has no authority, and the edit was clearly vandalistic.

I have now edited it out. Better late than never. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 04:13, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

Support for 1814 as his year of birth may be found in the (Adelaide) [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208281427 Express and Telegraph] obituary, which says (in 1884) he had reached the age of 70 years. Weak perhaps, however its competitor, the [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/35966851 South Australian Advertiser] gives a number of milestones in his life, including 1814 as his YOB. The third Adelaide daily, the Register, gives no date, but its weekly, the [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160100821 Observer] is adamant: 1814.

I have been unable to find any controversy in the newspapers, even from A. T. Saunders, who delighted in contradicting accepted wisdom, especially such articles as [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/164147084 this] by Fred Johns in the PS Review.

Coming to the 20th century, the Encyclopedia Britannica; Australian Dictionary of Biography; Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900); Heaton's Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time; Webster's Biographical Dictionary (two quite different editions); and Dictionary of Australian Biography; all give 1814, nem con, not to mention modern, and clearly derivative, collections such as What Happened When and Macquarie People and Places. None gives a day or month.

This does not make them right of course — they copy from each other — but that date stood for a long time before the Oxford DNB, Wakefield History and the SA Historical Society. Doug butler (talk) 00:29, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

:Assuming 1812 is correct, I wonder if the "70 years" published by the Express and Telegraph only meant as an indication, but taken as precise, leading to an ineradicable and self-reinforcing furphy ? Doug butler (talk) 03:14, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Robert Torrens. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080517083043/http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/ to http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

{{sourcecheck|checked=false|needhelp=}}

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 12:07, 26 December 2017 (UTC)

In case anyone is wondering, I'm still working on this article (in between other distractions), and am intending to hive off Real Property Act 1858 into a new article once I have finished adding and tidying a few bits I have. Then will update related articles (Torrens Title, etc.) and come back to review and finish RR Torrens. Any suggestions and copyedits welcome in the meantime, but just putting this there in case it looks a bit lopsided or untidy along the way. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 08:05, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

:Okay, I have now finished with this one for now (and updating a whole series of related articles as per info found for this one). Seems to match up to B class, although I see that UK politics seems to revert to C anyway. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 06:14, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

We have 1812 (or 31 May 1812) as Torrens's DoB as "accepted by modern historians". This date is asserted in the article Sir Robert Richard Torrens G.C.M.G (1812–1884) in S.A.'s Greats: The Men and Women of the North Terrace Plaques, edited by John Healey. In our article, Peter Moore is said to be its author, though not so credited in my copy of the book. Moore was however the author of the topic "Torrens Title" in The Wakefield Companion to South Australian History where the career of Robert Richard Torrens is outlined but little in the way of biographic detail. Certainly no mention of 1812 as asserted in "Untitled" above.

Professor Croucher, in her 2008 address [https://www.alrc.gov.au/news/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-refor/ 'Delenda Est Carthago!'] references the date 31 May 1812 from a biography of Torrens by P. Howell in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/27566 online edition], the International Genealogical Index, and private correspondence from Peter Moore, based on the baptismal register entry.

The International Genealogical Index (highly reputable) has 31 May 1812 for his DoB, so I find it curious that in the latest (2024) edition of The Wakefield Companion to South Australian History, in the topic "Torrens Title" Moore refers to him as Robert Richard Torrens (1814–1884). I have not changed any asserted facts in the article, just a few annotations. Doug butler (talk) 13:44, 21 December 2024 (UTC)