The Squire Author:Arthur W. Pinero Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855 - 1934) was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director. Pinero did some minor acting and then Pinero began writing plays in the late 1870s while at the Lyceum. He wrote 59 plays on such topics as second marriages for woman and social hypocrisy. His plays include The Magistrate (1885), The... more » Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith (1895), Trelawny of the 'Wells' (1898), and The Gay Lord Quex (1899). When the Squire was first produced, Pinero was accused of getting the idea for his play from Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. This charge was later dropped, but after this Pinero was very careful with his plots.« less