William Strickland (navigator)
William Strickland (died 8 December 1598) was an English landowner who sailed on early voyages of exploration to the Americas and is credited with introducing the
Early life
Strickland was the son of a
Strickland returned to Yorkshire in 1542, and with the proceeds of his voyages bought estates at Wintringham and at Boynton, both in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He seems to have lived the remainder of his life at Place Newton, his house at Wintringham where he is buried, but he had the Norman manor house at Boynton rebuilt as Boynton Hall, and this became the seat of his descendants. The church at Boynton is liberally decorated with the family's turkey crest, most notably in the form of a probably-unique lectern (a 20th-century creation) carved in the form of a turkey rather than the conventional eagle, the bible supported by its outspread tail feathers.[4]
Parliamentary career
In 1558, Strickland was elected to the Parliament of England as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough, and seems to have proved an able and eloquent advocate of the Puritan cause, earning such nicknames as "Strickland the Stinger" from his political opponents, though the anonymous author of the Simonds d'Ewes diaries described him sardonically as "One Mr Strickland, a grave and ancient man of great zeal, and perhaps (as he himself thought) not unlearned".
Strickland does not seem to have been particularly prominent in his first two parliaments, but came to the forefront in the parliament that met in 1571, in which the Puritan faction was stronger than previously. This time he found himself at the centre of a constitutional crisis, one of Parliament's earliest assertions of its privilege to conduct its proceedings without royal interference with its members.
Strickland spoke on both the first two days of the session, 6 April 1571 and 7 April 1571; on the second of these he put forward a motion to reintroduce six bills to reform the
Strickland was now summoned before the Privy Council, though sources differ on whether he was imprisoned or otherwise menaced; but it seems certain he was forbidden to retake his seat in the Commons. When the House reassembled, one member reported that the
Strickland was not re-elected immediately following the dissolution of the parliament in 1572, but was returned once more as MP for Scarborough in 1584.
There is some disagreement between historians of the period as to whether Strickland should be considered the prime mover in the controversy he caused, or merely a spokesman of the Puritan faction following a course of action directed by its ringleaders. Strickland was one of 46 MPs who were lampooned by an opponent for speaking together on a motion in 1566, and whom
Descendants
Strickland married Elizabeth Strickland, daughter of Sir Walter Strickland of
References
- ^ a b c Emett, Charlie (2003) Walking the Wolds Cicerone Press Limited, 1993
- ^ a b M. F. Fuller (2004) The encyclopedia of farm animal nutrition
- ^ Bruce Thomas Boehrer (2011). Animal characters: nonhuman beings in early modern literature p.141. University of Pennsylvania Press
- ^ a b Peach, Howard (2001) Curious Tales of Old East Yorkshire, p. 53. Sigma Leisure. Includes illustrations of Strickland's coat of arms and the lectern.
External links
- J Foster, Pedigrees of the County Families of Yorkshire (1874)
- Lord Hawkesbury, Some East Riding Families (Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society, 1899)
- J E Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (Jonathan Cape, 1949)
- J E Neale, Elizabeth I and her Parliaments, 1559–1581 (Jonathan Cape, 1953)
- G R Park, The Parliamentary Representation of Yorkshire (1886)
- Who's Who in Yorkshire (1912)