Lieutenant General Ernest Ker Squires CB, DSO, MC (18 December 1882 – 2 March 1940) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff (1939–1940).

Ernest Ker Squires
Born18 December 1882
Poona, India
Died2 March 1940(1940-03-02) (aged 57)
Melbourne, Australia
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Australia
Service/branchBritish Army
Australian Army
Years of service1903–1940
RankLieutenant General
Commands heldChief of the General Staff
Battles/warsFirst World War
Third Anglo-Afghan War
Second World War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross & 4 Bars[1]
Mentioned in dispatches (6)

Biography edit

Squires was born in India, son of clergyman Rev. Robert Alfred Squires and Elizabeth Anne (nee Ker).[1] Educated at Eton College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Squires was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1903.[2] He transferred to the 3rd Sappers and Miners in India in 1905.[2] On 3 March 1912 he married at Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, Ethel Elsie Risley.[2]

Squires served in the First World War and was wounded at Givenchy in 1914 and at Ypres in 1915.[2] Later that year he saw action again – this time in Mesopotamia, and in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.[2] During these five years, he was awarded the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, and mentioned in despatches six times.[1][2][3] In 1932 he was made brigadier on the General Staff of Southern Command.[4]

Squires became Director of Staff Duties at the War Office in 1936, Inspector General of the Australian Army in 1938,[5] and Chief of the General Staff in 1939.[2] His health failed him and he died early the following year after cancer surgery in St Ives Private Hospital, East Melbourne.[2] He was cremated at Springvale Crematorium, Melbourne, and is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Victoria Cremation Memorial there.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Ernest Ker Squires casualty record". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lodge, A. B. (1990). "Squires, Ernest Ker (1882–1940)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 12. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. pp. 41–42. ISSN 1833-7538.
  3. ^ The CWGC casualty record indicates he was mentioned in despatches 5 times, the Australian Dictionary of Biography states he was mentioned 6 times including one in the Anglo-Afghan War that followed WWI.
  4. ^ Ernest Squires Generals.dk
  5. ^ Inspector General selected Canberra Times, 19 May 1938
Military offices
Preceded by
Lieutenant General John Lavarack
Chief of the General Staff
1939–1940
Succeeded by
Lieutenant General John Northcott