Background
Sir William Strickland was the eldest son of Walter Strickland of Boynton, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, inheriting his estate on his death in 1636.
Sir William Strickland was the eldest son of Walter Strickland of Boynton, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, inheriting his estate on his death in 1636.
He was educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and proceeded to Gray’s Inn though he seems not to have qualified as a barrister.
He was knighted in 1630, and in 1640 was elected to Parliament as member for Hedon. Strickland sat for Hedon throughout the Long Parliament, taking a hard line in support of the Commonwealth and later of Cromwell. (An opposition pamphleteer described him as “for settling the Protector anew in all those things for which the king was cut off”.
He also spoke frequently in favour of the punishment of James Naylor.
After the expulsion of the Rump, he did not appear in the Barebone"s Parliament, but was elected for the Protectorate Parliaments of as one of the four members for the East Riding in 1654 and 1656. He was subsequently summoned to Cromwell’s House of Peers as Lord Strickland.
From 1642 to 1646, Strickland was Custos Rotulorum of the East Riding of Yorkshire.