Sir Richard Anderson Squires KCMG (January 18, 1880 – March 26, 1940) was the Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1919 to 1923 and from 1928 to 1932.

As prime minister, Squires attempted to reform Newfoundland's fishing industry, but failed at doing so.

In 1932, he narrowly escaped a riot, which forced him from power, and ended democracy in Newfoundland.

While Squires retired after the riot, he continued to campaign against rule by the British Crown under the Commission of Government.

He did this by forming an alliance with the Fisherman's Protective Union of William Coaker under the name of the Liberal Reform Party.

In 1928, Walter Monroe resigned as prime minister and was replaced by his cousin Frederick C. Alderdice.

His next government started out well, seeing the election of his wife Helena Squires as the first woman to sit in the House of Assembly.

However, Newfoundland was struck hard by the Great Depression; fish prices fell and an already severe public debt worsened.

In 1932, Squires's finance minister, Peter John Cashin, resigned from the executive council accusing his fellow cabinet ministers of widespread corruption and Squires himself of having falsified council minutes to hide the fact that he had been receiving secret payments out of public funds.

Cashin's charge inflamed a public which had already been seized by discontent due to the deteriorating economic situation in the country.