Edward Squire

Edward Squire (died 1598) was an English scrivener and sailor, and an alleged conspirator against the life of Elizabeth I of England. He was executed, after an investigation of a series of obscure circumstances led to conviction for his apparent attempts to poison Queen Elizabeth and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. A long controversy on the truth of the matter then ensued.

Originally he was a scrivener at Greenwich, where he married and had children. He then obtained a post in Queen Elizabeth's stables, but gave up his position to become a sailor. In August 1595 he started with Sir Francis Drake on his last voyage to the West Indies, on board the Francis, a small barque. Late in October the Francis separated from the rest of the fleet off Guadeloupe, and was captured by five Spanish ships.

Squire was taken prisoner to Seville in Spain. Having been released on parole, he may have formed a plan for discovering Jesuit secrets by a pretended conversion. By attacks on the Roman Catholics he got himself imprisoned, and then was sent for Richard Walpole, a brother of Henry Walpole, and close to Robert Parsons. Walpole is alleged to have instigated him to assassinate the Earl of Essex and Queen Elizabeth. In order to disarm suspicion, a pretext was found for having Squire tried as a Protestant by the Spanish Inquisition.

The plan was to poison the pommel of the queen's saddle, for which Squire's previous experience in the royal stables afforded him opportunities. Squire was exchanged for some Spanish prisoners, and he arrived in England in June 1597. Late in that month he is said to have rubbed on the pommel of the queen's saddle some of the poison with which Walpole had supplied him, but without any result. A week or so later Squire, partly to escape detection and partly to make an attempt on Essex's life, embarked on the Earl's fleet then about to set out on the Islands Voyage. Between Fayal and St. Michael's he rubbed some poison on Essex's chair, with equal lack of success.

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