Jane Squire

Jane Squire ( 1686 – 1743) was an English mathematician who was the only known woman to have participated openly in the 18th-century debates and discussions over the solution to finding longitude at sea. She was one of only two (the other being Elizabeth Johnson) who submitted schemes with the aim of receiving a reward (up to £20,000) under the 1714 Longitude Act. This work was especially important during the 18th century, when the British Empire depended heavily on the sea for trade, travel, and governing colonies.

Life and career Squire was born in York and baptised in 1686. Her parents, Priscilla and Robert Squire, were wealthy and influential. She also sent copies to Rome in the hope of gaining the support of Pope Benedict XIV.

Squire was never married. She was determined to have her ideas heard, despite being a woman. She included in her book a letter that she wrote to Sir Thomas Hanmer in 1733 in which she stated, "‘I do not remember any Play-thing, that does not appear to me a mathematical Instrument; nor any mathematical Instrument, that does not appear to me a Play-thing: I see not, therefore, why I should confine myself to Needles, Cards, and Dice". Hanmer was one of the original Commissioners appointed by the 1714 Longitude Act and his response, also printed in Squire's book, indicated that "‘that you are to expect to lye under some Prejudice upon account of your Sex". Similarly religiously motivated searches were "not uncommon" at the time. The clock was intended to announce the time from church steeples, and she also discussed the use of marine buoys (described as artificial sea creatures) to aid mapping. More recently, scholars have started to take her contribution, and the responses of her contemporaries, more seriously in order to better understand the scientific and religious cultures of the period, and the importance of gender and social class in gaining a voice in debates.

Death Squire died in London in 1743, the year the second edition of her proposal was published. The Daily Post noted that she was “a Lady excellently well vers’d in Astronomy, Philosophy, and most Parts of polite Literature".