[4] After finishing his training at Cliff and Livingstone Colleges for missionary service, he was first sent to Chengdu, Sichuan in 1895, by the China Inland Mission (CIM).

In 1910, he met up with Dr. John R. Hykes, head of the American Bible Society (ABS) in China, who was attending the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference.

[4][6] In 1911, Torrance married Annie Elizabeth Sharpe who had also been a member of the CIM, stationed west of Chengdu in Guanxian.

Due to unrest caused by Communist troops in the beginning of the Chinese Civil War, the Torrance family left China in 1927 and settled in Scotland for a furlough year.

[8][9] Torrance is known for being the first Westerner to conduct research among the Qiang people,[8][10] who he believed belonged to the Lost Tribes of Israel.