John Squires

John Squire (1780–1812) was a British Army officer who rose to become a brevet lieutenant-colonel in the Corps of Royal Engineers during the Napoleonic Wars. Being a writer and diarist who kept journals of his travels, these and his supporting role in some of military campaigning's great moments – Egypt in 1801, South America in 1807, Sweden in 1808, the Netherlands at various stages and Spain in 1811–12 – have made Squire a moderately well-known figure among scholars who study the era.

Early life The eldest son of Dr. John Squire (1732–1816) of Ely Place, London, the founder in 1788 the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men, he was born in London. He was educated at Charterhouse School under Matthew Raine, and, after passing through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, he received a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in January 1797. He was promoted to be first lieutenant on 29 August 1798.

In August 1799, Squire embarked with the Helder Expedition (the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland) under Sir Ralph Abercromby. He took part in the engagement of 10 September, when he was wounded. He was also in the actions of Bergen and Alkmaar on 2 and 6 October. He returned with the army to England at the end of October.

In the Mediterranean In 1801, Squire went to Egypt, and served throughout the campaign there under Abercromby and under General Hutchinson. He was present at the Battle of Alexandria on 21 March, the capture of Rosetta on 8 April, the capture of Fort St. Julien after a three days' siege on 19 April, the siege of Alexandria in August, and its capitulation, after an armistice of some days, on 2 September.

Works During his stay in Egypt, with William Martin Leake and William Richard Hamilton, Squire deciphered the Greek inscription on Pompey's pillar at Alexandria. On arriving back in England, early in 1803, Squire and Leake presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London a memoir on the Pillar. It was read on 3 February by Matthew Raine of Charterhouse, who had suggested characters to replace the eighteen which were entirely obliterated (Archæologia, vol. xv.). Extracts were published in 1817.

In 1810, Squire published anonymously A Short Narrative of the late Campaign of the British Army, &c., with Preliminary Remarks on the Topography and Channels of Zeeland (2nd ed. same year). This work was critical of the conduct of the campaign. Squire also made detailed criticisms of the early Peninsular campaign, in letters to Henry Bunbury. Some of this correspondence survives.

In May 2016, a BBC Australian news article described the chance finding of one of his handwritten journals in a second-hand bookstore in Hobart, Tasmania. Previously unknown of, the journal covers the period from 12 May to 22 July 1811 and records technical aspects of the English-Portuguese army's first and second sieges of Badajoz before its fall a year later.