Sir Roger Strickland (1640–1717) was an English admiral and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Life

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 The Four Days' Battle, also known as the Four Days' Fight in some English sources and as Vierdaagse Zeeslag in Dutch, was a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Fought from 1 June to 4 June 1666 in the Julian or Old Style calendar that ...

(1–4 June 1666). In 1672, he commanded the 58-gun ''Plymouth'' at the

Battle of Solebay The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and large ...

, during which he recovered the ''Henry'', which had been captured by the Dutch. He also served in the battles of

Schooneveld The Schooneveld is a shallow basin at the mouth of the Scheldt river, near the island of Walcheren, off the coast of the Netherlands. It runs parallel to the continental coast, narrowing from the southwest to the northeast, bounded by the irregula ...

and

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...

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 The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

, 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 Earl of Dartmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth. History The Legge family descended from Edward Legge, Vice-President of Munster. ...

. Nevertheless, he retained his rank until the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, 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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Roger 1640 births 1717 deaths 18th-century English people English MPs 1685–1687 People from Boroughbridge 17th-century Royal Navy personnel English Roman Catholics