Born March 19, 1888 at Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, Robert Charles Hollis Torville was the son of Rose Blanchard Torville and Robert Torville, a stableman. After his parents separated in 1897 he was sent to an orphanage in London where he received a brief education. He emigrated to Halifax in 1899 and in 1910 took up a homestead in the Milestone district where he farmed until retiring to Regina in 1966. Torville was a poet, writer, and songwriter who sought personal truth through mysticism, studying in the 1930s with the Mystic Brotherhood, University of Tampa, Florida. He published three volumes of poetry including "Song of my Soul" in 1965. Upon his death he bequethed $50,000 to the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, which was used to establish the Torville Honour Scholarship, presented annually to a student majoring in English.