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)

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).

Biography

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

  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 byLieutenant General John Lavarack Chief of the General Staff 1939–1940 Succeeded byLieutenant General John Northcott
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