Strickland was the second son of Walter Strickland of
Nateby Hall, Lancashire, and lived at
Thornton Bridge near
Aldborough in Yorkshire, a property acquired from his cousin
Sir Thomas Strickland of Sizergh. He received his first command in 1665, and the following year he commanded the 48-gun
Santa Maria in the
Four Days' Battle (1–4 June 1666). In 1672, he commanded the 58-gun
Plymouth at the
Battle of Solebay, during which he recovered the
Henry, which had been captured by the Dutch. He also served in the battles of
Schooneveld and
Texel in 1673, as a result of which he was knighted. In 1677, he was promoted to rear-admiral and served as
John Narbrough's third-in-command; on 1 April 1678, with Narbrough's successor,
Admiral Herbert, he captured a 40-gun Algerian cruiser. Suspected (rightly) of being a crypto-Catholic, Strickland found his career stagnating during the later years of
Charles II’s reign, and spent a period ashore in England, during which he was elected MP for
Aldborough. However, he received immediate advancement on the accession of
James II and returned to sea, being promoted first to vice-admiral and then to Admiral of the Blue. In the summer of 1688, he took command of the
Channel Fleet, but his attempt to have the mass said publicly on board his flagship, the Mary, caused a mutiny, and he was shortly afterwards replaced by
Lord Dartmouth. Nevertheless, he retained his rank until the
Revolution, after which he resigned his commission and joined the dispossessed James II in France, later accompanying him to Ireland though apparently holding no command during the unsuccessful invasion. Strickland’s name was originally included in the list of names to be attainted for treason for his support of James, though it was later removed for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, he was afterwards described officially as outlawed, and his estates were confiscated for "high treason committed on 1 May 1689". He died in exile at St Germain in 1717. ==References==