Gerald Paul Joseph Cajetan Carmel Antony Martin Strickland, 6th Count della Catena, 1st Baron Strickland, (24 May 1861 – 22 August 1940) was a Maltese and British politician and peer, who served as
Prime Minister of Malta
The prime minister of Malta ( mt, Prim Ministru ta' Malta) is the head of government, which is the highest official of Malta. The Prime Minister chairs Cabinet meetings, and selects its ministers to serve in their respective portfolios. The P ...
,
Governor of the Leeward Islands,
Governor of Tasmania
The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...
,
Governor of Western Australia
The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutiona ...
and
Governor of New South Wales, in addition to sitting successively in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
and
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
.
Early life
Strickland was born in
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...
, the son of naval officer Commander Walter Strickland, from the ancient English
Strickland family of
Sizergh, and Maria Aloysia Bonici-Mompalao, the niece and heiress of Sir Nicholas Sceberras Bologna, fifth Count della Catena in Malta, whom Gerald succeeded in 1875. He was educated at
St Mary's College, Oscott
St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of the three seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Purpose
Oscott Co ...
, and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
(BA, LLB). Upon graduating, he was admitted to
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...
in 1887 entitled to practise as a barrister-at-law. He gained the rank of
major in the service of the
Royal Malta Militia.
Elected in 1886 to the council of the government of Malta, Strickland began to take an active part in
Maltese politics
The politics of Malta takes place within a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Malta is the constitutional head of state. Executive Authority is vested in the President of Malta with the gen ...
at an early age and in December 1887, he accompanied Dr.
Fortunato Mizzi
Fortunato Mizzi (5 July 1844 – 18 May 1905) was a Maltese lawyer and politician.
Biography
Born of Francesco Mizzi Marianna Galea, Fortunato Mizzi was descendant of an old Italian-Maltese family, whose ancestor Pietro Mizzi emigrated to G ...
– founder of the Maltese
Nationalist Party – to the first Colonial Conference in London to submit a scheme for a legislative assembly. The result was that the new Maltese Constitution of December 1887 was largely based on the joint Strickland-Mizzi proposals. In the following year, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary to Malta in 1888 and held the office of Chief Secretary of Malta in 1889, a post which he held till July 1902 when to avert more troubles in Malta which were created by his orders-in-council to increase taxation, he was appointed as
Governor of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.
Sir Gerald and Lady Edeline Strickland left Southampton for
Antigua in September 1902, and took up residence at
Government House
Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries.
Gover ...
,
St Johns on arrival. He was appointed as
Governor of Tasmania
The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...
in 1904, serving as such until 1909, and then as
Governor of Western Australia
The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutiona ...
from 1909 to 1913. In the early years consequent upon
Australian Federation
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...
he was involved in the delicate matter of State rights and the developing nature of the appointment, role and salaries of governors. Appointed as
Governor of New South Wales in March 1913, on 30 May 1913 he was made a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III.
It is named in honour ...
(GCMG). He was a supporter of the Eugenics Education Society.
Political career
In 1917, Strickland returned to Malta and, after the grant of Self-Government, formed the Anglo-Maltese Party in 1921, which soon afterward amalgamated with the Maltese Constitutional Party to become the
Constitutional Party under his leadership. Strickland was the leader of the Opposition between 1921 and 1927. In 1924, he won the seat of
Lancaster for the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
in the
United Kingdom House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
. He left the House of Commons in 1928 upon being made a peer.
After the 1927 election, Strickland had a majority in the Legislative Assembly and became Head of the Ministry (the fourth
Prime Minister of Malta
The prime minister of Malta ( mt, Prim Ministru ta' Malta) is the head of government, which is the highest official of Malta. The Prime Minister chairs Cabinet meetings, and selects its ministers to serve in their respective portfolios. The P ...
) from August 1927 until 1932. Amongst the most important events of his government were the commencement of building works for
St. Luke's Hospital in
Gwardamanġia and his clash with the
Senate, which led to the issue of
Letters Patent which curtailed its powers and his concurrent clash with the ecclesiastical authorities.
On 1 May 1930,
Sir Mauro Monsignor Caruana,
Titular Archbishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.
By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...
and
Bishop of Malta, and
Mikiel Monsignor Gonzi,
Bishop of Gozo, issued a pastoral letter, read in all the churches of Malta and Gozo. In it, Archbishop Caruana and Bishop Gonzi declared that whoever voted for the
Constitutional Party and its former coalition partner, the
Labour Party, committed a mortal sin. That year he narrowly avoided assassination.
This mortal sin was also committed by those who read Strickland's newspapers, printed by his Progress Press, namely the ''Daily Malta Chronicle'' and ''Ix-Xemx''. He subsequently began publishing ''
Il-Progress'' and ''Il-Berqa''. The clash between the Catholic bishops and the Constitutional Party led to the suspension of the Maltese Constitution following consultations between the British Governor and London.
Between July 1932 and November 1933, Strickland was again the leader of the Opposition, and after the grant of a new Constitution in 1939, he became the leader of the elected majority in the Council of Government.
Personal life
Strickland married Lady Edeline Sackville-West (1870–1918), the daughter of the
7th Earl De La Warr and the Honourable Constance Mary Elizabeth Cochrane-Wishart-Baillie, on 26 August 1890. They had six daughters, and two sons who died at an early age. Their first daughter married Henry Hornyold, became known as Mrs Hornyold-Strickland and chaired the Conservative Party Conference in 1947.
They had the following children:
* Reginald Strickland (1892–1893)
* Hon. Mary Christina Strickland (1896–1970)
* Hon.
Cecilia Victoria Strickland (1897–1982)
* Hon.
Mabel Edeline Strickland OBE (1899–1988)
* Margaret Angela Strickland (1900–1901)
* Hon. Henrietta May Strickland (1903–1975), who married
Robert Tatton Bower
Commander Robert Tatton Bower (9 June 1894 – 5 July 1975) was a Royal Navy officer and a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Bower was the only son- with two sisters- of Major Sir Robert Lister Bower, KBE, CMG, o ...
* Walter Strickland (1901–1902)
* Hon. Dr. Constance Teresa Strickland LMSSA (1912–1979)
On 31 August 1926, following the death of Lady Edeline in 1918, Strickland married Margaret Hulton, daughter of the
newspaper proprietor Edward Hulton
Sir Edward George Stephen Hulton, 1st Baronet (3 March 1869 – 23 May 1925) was a British newspaper proprietor and thoroughbred racehorse owner.
In 1921, he was awarded a baronetcy, of Downside in the parish of Leatherhead in Surrey, for p ...
in the same church as his earlier wedding. She was made a
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the
1937 Coronation Honours.
[ Strickland was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1889, for rendering invaluable services during a severe cholera epidemic. He was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1897. He was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Strickland, of ]Sizergh Castle
Sizergh Castle and Garden is a stately home and garden at Helsington in the English county of Cumbria, about south of Kendal. Located in historic Westmorland, the castle is a grade I listed building. While remaining the home of the Hornyold- ...
in the County of Westmorland, on 19 January 1928. He died at Villa Bologna, his residence in Attard
Attard ( mt, Ħ'Attard) is a town in the Central Region of Malta. Together with Balzan and Lija it forms part of " the Three Villages" and has been inhabited since the Classical Period. It has a population of 12,268 as of 2021. Attard's trad ...
, and is buried in the family crypt at St. Paul's Cathedral, Mdina
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul ( mt, Il-Katidral Metropolitan ta' San Pawl), commonly known as St Paul's Cathedral or the Mdina Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mdina, Malta, dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle. The cathedral w ...
.
Honours
References
Bibliography
* Montalto, J., ''The Nobles of Malta-1530–1800'', Midsea Books Ltd, Malta, 1980.
* ''Burkes Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of the UK'' (106th ed.) (London 2002).
* Giles Ash, S., "The Nobility of Malta", Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG Ltd 1988).
* Koster, A., ''Prelates and politicians in Malta'', (Amsterdam University 1977).
*
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Gerald
1861 births
1940 deaths
Alumni of St Mary's College, Oscott
Strickland, Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron
British Militia officers
British people of Maltese descent
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Governors of the Leeward Islands
Governors of Tasmania
Governors of Western Australia
Governors of New South Wales
British politicians of Italian descent
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Leaders of the Opposition (Malta)
Leaders of political parties in Malta
Members of the Inner Temple
People from Valletta
People from Attard
Presidents of the Cambridge Union
Prime Ministers of Malta
UK MPs 1924–1929
UK MPs who were granted peerages
Maltese knights
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19th-century Maltese politicians
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Barons created by George V