Origin and history of esquire

late 14c., from Old French escuier "shield-bearer (attendant young man in training to be a knight), groom" (Modern French écuyer), from Medieval Latin scutarius "shield-bearer, guardsman" (in classical Latin, "shield-maker"), from scutum "shield" (see escutcheon).

For initial e-, see e-. Compare squire (n.). Originally the feudal rank below knight, sense broadened 16c. to a general title of courtesy or respect for the educated and professional class, especially, later, in U.S., regarded as belonging particularly to lawyers.

It was counted in Britain among the follies of the ex-colonials:

Up to that period [the Declaration of Independence], the esquires in America were British esquires; they then ceased to be so! But still they did, and still they do, call themselves esquires! but how?—upon what right? British esquires they are not—esquires by courtesy cannot exist where there are no knights! ["On the Title of Esquires," reprinted "from a London Journal" in Charleston Daily Courier, July 15, 1824]

Its use and broad application also were derided in the early republic in America:

In our own dear title-bearing, democratic land, the title of esquire, officially and by courtesy, has come to include pretty much everybody. Of course everybody in office is an esquire, and all who have been in office enjoy and glory in the title. And what with a standing army of legislators, an elective and ever-changing magistracy, and almost a whole population of militia officers, present and past, all named as esquires in their commissions, the title is nearly universal. [N.Y. Commercial Advertiser newspaper, quoted in Bartlett, 1859]

As to the innumerable distinctions of "honorable" and "esquire"—they are a very plague. No office can make a man honorable, who is not so, and none ought to be appointed who are not so before. The title of esquire, so much hackneyed, ought to be regarded in its origin as contemptible and reproachful. It meant a military body-servant—a shield-bearer. [Washington Daily National Intelligencer, Nov. 9, 1820, "from the Federal Republican"]

A modern writer pithily remarks that "the title of 'Esquire' is now conferred on all who wear a clean shirt." [Dubuque (Iowa) Miner's Express, May 3, 1848, also various other U.S. papers]

The question is often asked, who is entitled to the title of Esquire, in the United States according to usage. The answer is plain--every man who takes to himself a wife!—Just so. And the rest of mankind are nothing more than Majors and Colonels, and so forth. [reprinted in U.S. newspapers, spring 1852]

There is a discussion in the papers respecting the title of Esquire. It belongs in this country to lawyers, members of the House of Representatives, town and city councils, clerks of the court, justices of the peace, to every man taxed for ten thousand dollars, and to every person who subscribes for any respectable newspaper ten years, and pays in advance. [Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, May 8, 1852]