Sir Richard Anderson Squires

Sir Richard Anderson Squires (born Jan. 18, 1880, Harbour Grace, Nfd.—died March 26, 1940, St. John’s) was a controversial prime minister of Newfoundland (1919–23; 1928–32) who gained a reputation for being opportunistic, extravagant, and corrupt but whose promotion of education and industrial development laid the foundation for the Newfoundland Liberal Party’s emergence as the dominant political force in the province after its union with Canada in 1949.

Squires was elected to the Newfoundland House of Assembly in 1909 as a member of the People’s Party, at that time led by his law partner Edward Patrick Morris, 1st Baron Morris. In 1917, during World War I, the party joined with the Liberals to form a war coalition government. In 1914–19 Squires served on the Legislative Council; he was minister of justice and attorney general in 1914–17 and colonial secretary in 1917–18. When a Liberal, William Lloyd, became prime minister in 1918, Squires left the coalition, denouncing, in particular, the participation in the government of the Liberal backer William Coaker, president of the Fisherman’s Protective Union. When, however, Sir Michael Patrick Cashin reorganized the government in a more conservative direction the following year, dropping Coaker, Squires joined the Liberals and formed an alliance with Coaker that later proved advantageous to Squires’ career. As prime minister, Squires helped develop education and industry, but the Great Depression of the 1930s finished his career. He was knighted in 1921.