William Squier (1560 to 1592), Gwendolyn's 11th Great
Grandfather. Apparently an English nobleman who managed to become a
member of Queen Elizabeth I court. He is also known to have been a part of
the company on the last voyage of Sir Frances Drake. From here it is
not clear what happened but he ended up a prisoner of the Spanish and was
eventually brought before the Inquisition. He somehow managed to be
among the exchanged prisoners and, because of this, he was considered a
very clever fellow at court.
However, his cleverness was more reputation than real, for he got mixed up
with a rebellious group that wished to murder Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Sussex.
See the movie "Elizabeth" to get an idea of what was going on at
this time. It is said that William Squier tried to poison the Queen
and the Earl with some substance that could be absorbed through the
skin. The plot failed miserably and the "clever one" got
his head chopped off.