Strange was apparently born in
Aylsham, in Norfolk, England, tentatively given as 1826 by his earliest biographer although more likely to between 1810 and 1818. Strange supplied specimens to botanists, ornithologists and other workers, including the previously undescribed Prince Albert's lyre-bird
Menura alberti, and others used as types for bird species described by
John Gould: sooty owl
Strix tenebricosa, plumed frogmouth
Podargus plumiferus, pale-yellow robin
Eopsaltria capito, mangrove honeyeater
Ptilotis fasciogularis and rufous shrike-thrush
Colluricincla rufogaster. Strange accompanied
John Lort Stokes in 1848 on a voyage to survey New Zealand. He returned to England with his family in 1852, taking with him a substantial collection of specimens. Notices in contemporary English newspapers described his seeds and specimens when he arrived, crediting him with the introduction to England of the plant
Nymphaea gigantea as a living specimen. That species, an aquatic plant with large flowers that was compared to celebrated exotic
Victoria amazonica, was then named and described by
William Hooker and illustrated by
Walter Hood Fitch. the youngest of whom was born after Strange's death. His grandson, Frederick Resolute Strange, provided field notes, letters and other material to early biographers,
J. H. Maiden's first notice published in 1908 and
H. M. Whittell's more extensive biographical article in 1947. A biographer in 2017 concluded that despite a lack of qualifications found in the other natural history collectors, he became a "fine naturalist and Australian pioneer". == References ==