William Torrens McCullagh Torrens

Life
1813-1894 [orig. William Torrens McCullagh; adopted the Torrens surname, c.1830, his mother being neice of Sir Robert Torrens; var. surname of his wife CAB], b. Dublin; ed. TCD, BA 1833; LLD, 1855; asst. commissioner to Poor Law Commission in Ireland, 1833-35; leading member anti-Corn Law League; co-fnd., with Robert Kane, Mechanics Institute, Dublin; Irish bar, 1836; published The Industrial History of Free Nations (1846); Independent MP for Dundalk 1848-1852; unsuccessful candidate for Yarmouth, 1852; English Bar, 1855; became MP for Yarmouth, 1857; MP Finsbury, 1865-85, all as Independent Liberal; supported Reform Act (1867), and introduced ‘Torrens Act’ (properly Artisan’s Dwellings Act), and Amendment to Education Act of 1870, which established the London School Board; ed. Memoir and Speeches of Richard Lalor Sheil, ed. by (2 vols., 1855); Memoirs of Viscount Melbourne (2 vols., 1878); a Life of Wellesley (2 vols., 1880); Twenty Years in Parliament (1883); History of Cabinets, 2 vols. (1894), published posthumously. CAB DNB DIW DIH

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Works
The Industrial History of Free Nations (1846); ed. Memoir and Speeches of Richard Lalor Sheil, ed. by (2 vols., 1855); Memoirs of Viscount Melbourne (2 vols., 1878); Life of [Arthur] Wellesley (2 vols., 1880); Twenty Years in Parliament (1883); History of Cabinets from the Union with Scotland to the Acquisition of Canada and Bengal, 2 vols. (London 1894), 555, 575pp. See also Life of Melbourne. British Library Catalogue (pre-1957) lists his edition of R. S. Sheil (1855) under the author-name of W. Torrens McCullough.

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References
Charles Read, A Cabinet of Irish Literature (3 vols., 1876-78) selects extract on ‘Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb’, from Life of Lord Melbourne.

British Library holds Imperial and colonial partnership in emigration [1881?]; Speech delivered in the House of Commons, June 17, 1870, by W.M. Torrens, M.P. for Finsbury, on the prevailing want of employment in great towns and the policy of providing cheap and uniform rates of charge for emigrants to the colonies. 1870

Hyland Books (Cat. 219; 1995) lists History of Cabinets from the Union with Scotland to the Acquisition of Canada and Bengal, 2 vols. (1st edn. 1894), 555, 575pp.

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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)