Sir Robert Strickland, MP

Family and Education b. 1 Jan. 1600, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Strickland* and his 2nd w. Margaret, da. of (Sir) Nicholas Curwen† of Workington, Cumb.1 educ. Trin. Camb. 1615.2 m. 10 Jan. 1619, Margaret, da. and coh. of Sir William Alford* of Meaux Abbey, Yorks., 3s. 1da.3 suc. fa. 1612;4 kntd. Nov. 1641.5 bur. 14 Apr. 1671.6

Offices Held

Commr. subsidy, Westmld. 1624;7 j.p. Westmld. 1624-5, Yorks. (E. Riding) 1636- at least 1642, custos rot. 1642, (N. Riding) 1660-d.;8 commr. sewers (E. Riding) 1634-41;9 col. militia ft. (N. Riding) 1638-42;10 dep. lt. Yorks. 1640-4, 1660-d.;11 commr. embezzlement inquiry, York 1641,12 array, Yorks. 1642,13 assessment, Yorks. (N. Riding) 1660-5, loyal and indigent officers, Yorks. 1662,14 corporations 1662-3.15

Col. ft. (roy.) 1642-4; capt. horse (roy.) 1643-4.16

Biography At the age of only 12 Strickland inherited an estate encumbered with debts, which was managed during his minority by his mother, who bought his wardship for £441 3s. 4d.17 Never free from financial stringency, he seems nevertheless to have retained his estate unimpaired. Although his younger bothers were sent to Douai, and his mother-in-law was a recusant, his own religion was not in doubt, and he was elected knight of the shire for Westmorland at the first opportunity after coming of age, in 1624.18 He left no trace on the records of the fourth Jacobean Parliament. For the rest of his life he seems to have lived almost entirely in Yorkshire, representing Aldborough in the Long Parliament until disabled as a royalist.19 He died intestate, and was buried at Brafferton on 14 Apr. 1671. His portrait survives in a private collection.20 His eldest son Sir Thomas served in the Cavalier Parliament for Westmorland until 1677.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Authors: John. P. Ferris / Rosemary Sgroi Notes 1. H. Hornyold, Strickland of Sizergh, 111. 2. Al. Cant. 3. Hornyold, 117. 4. Ibid. 106. 5. Fairfax Corresp. ed. G.W. Johnson, ii. 269. 6. Hornyold, 117. 7. C212/22/23. 8. C231/4, f. 167; 231/5, pp. 195, 534; T. Rymer, Foedera, viii. pt. 2, p. 17; C220/9/4, f. 31. 9. C181/4, f. 189v; 181/5, ff. 41v, 198. 10. Strafforde Letters (1739) ed. W. Knowler, ii. 194; CSP Dom. 1641-3, p. 323. 11. J.T. Cliffe, Yorks. Gentry, 324, 333; SP29/11, f. 245; H.B. McCall, Fam. of Wandesford, 291. 12. Rymer, ix. pt. 3, p. 65. 13. Northants. RO, FH133. 14. SR, v. 212, 385, 543. 15. HMC 8th Rep. pt. 1 (1881), p. 275. 16. HMC 5th Rep. 331. 17. C.B. Phillips, ‘Gentry in Cumb. and Westmld. 1600-65’ (Lancaster Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1973), pp. 233-4. 18. Hornyold, 107-8; H. Aveling, Northern Catholics, 280. 19. M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 354-5. 20. Hornyold, opp. 111, 117.