Samuel Squire (1714 – 7 May 1766) was a Bishop of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

and a historian.

Early life

Squire was the son of a druggist in Warminster, Wiltshire, and was first educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School. He matriculated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

in 1730 and graduated BA in 1734, winning the Craven scholarship the same year. He was elected a fellow of St John's in 1735, proceeded MA in 1737, and was made a Doctor of Divinity in 1749.Reed Browning,
Squire, Samuel (bap. 1714, d. 1766)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 21 June 2009.

Ecclesiastical career

Squire began his church career in 1739 when he was ordained a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

of the

; he was ordained priest in 1741, in which year he was appointed

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pr ...

of Minting, Lincolnshire. In 1743 was made a canon of Wells Cathedral, and

Archdeacon of Bath The Archdeacon of Bath is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells. The post, having oversight over the archdeaconry of Bath, has existed since the twelfth century. The archdeaconry includes five deaneri ...

, holding both preferments until 1761. Adding to his growing number of parish livings, he was appointed

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Toppesfield, Essex (1749–50) and subsequently of

St Anne's Church, Soho Saint Anne's Church serves in the Church of England the Soho section of London. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the parish church of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Anne, created from part of the pa ...

(1750–66), and vicar of St Alphege's, Greenwich (1751–66), where William Paley, who later achieved fame as a theologian and philosopher, served as his

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

. He was briefly Dean of Bristol (1760) and was finally appointed

Bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the St Davids, city of ...

in 1761. His attainment of offices was due to his open attachment to the

court Whig The Whigs were a political faction and then a political party in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals, the Tories. T ...

s; he was chaplain to the Duke of Newcastle, whose use of patronage for the court Whig interest was renowned.

Published works

In the 1740s Squire published five essays on political subjects in which he voiced his support for the Whig party. His ''Letter to a Young Gentleman of Distinction'' (1740) argued for the benefits of a standing army against a

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non- professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

to protect Britain in its wars against France and Spain. Squire advocated Britain's continental commitment of troops in ''The Important Question Discussed'' (1746). He came to the aid of Henry Pelham's administration by trumpeting its Whig principles in ''A Letter to a Tory Friend'' (1746). Squire also disputed the arguments of the

Jacobite Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...

historian Thomas Carte by publishing two pamphlets in 1748: ''Remarks upon Mr. Carte's Specimen'' and ''A Letter to John Trot-Plaid''. In the ''Remarks'', Squire used

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted ...

theory to contend against Carte's support of the

House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter ...

, and in ''A Letter'' he satirised Carte by mocking his interpretation of the past in terms of the present. Squire also published two works on English history, ''An Enquiry into the Foundation of the English Constitution'' (1745) and ''Historical Essay upon the Balance of Civil Power in England'' (1748). In ''An Enquiry'', Squire wrote on the German and Anglo-Saxon love of liberty and constitutionalism. In his ''Historical Essay'', Squire wrote that liberty depended upon an equipoise among competing institutions and groups in society, suggesting that whenever such an equipoise collapses an arbitrary government takes its place. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 had ended the struggle to secure a balance and thus ensure liberty. In May 1746 Squire was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

as: "A Gentleman well known to the Learned World by Several valuable Treatises, perticularly 'Two Essays on the Antient Greek Chronology' and 'On the Origin of the Greek Language'; A new Edition of Plutarch's Discourse on 'Isis & Osiris', with an English Translation & Commentary; and an 'Historical Essay on the Anglo-Saxon Government both in Germany & England'". He died in Harley Street,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Squire, Samuel 1714 births 1766 deaths 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops Archdeacons of Bath Bishops of St Davids Deans of Bristol 18th-century English historians Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from Warminster