Mabel Edeline Strickland, (8 January 1899 – 29 November 1988), was an

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to peopl ...

- Maltese journalist, newspaper proprietor and politician.

Family and personal life

Strickland was the daughter of Sir Gerald Strickland, later the 4th

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 ...

, and Lady Edeline Sackville. Her mother was the eldest daughter of

Reginald Sackville, 7th Earl De La Warr Reginald Windsor Sackville, 7th Earl De La Warr (21 February 1817 – 5 January 1896), styled The Honourable Reginald West until 1843, as The Honourable Reginald Sackville between 1843 and 1870 and known as the Lord Buckhurst between 1870 and 1873 ...

Knole Knole () is a country house and former archbishop's palace owned by the National Trust. It is situated within Knole Park, a park located immediately to the south-east of Sevenoaks in west Kent. The house ranks in the top five of England's lar ...

, Kent. Mabel never married, leaving the bulk of her estate to her sole heir Robert Hornyold-Strickland. Despite Mabel set up the Strickland Foundation "for herself and her heirs in perpetuity" in 1979. However some of her key assets including the majority shareholding of Allied Newspapers Ltd together with her family home and all of her personal, legal and administrative papers were diverted by her executors away from Mabel's heir. This has resulted in two significant court cases taken out against the Foundation and Allied Newspapers Ltd by her heir.

Residences

Mabel Strickland lived the most of her life at

Villa Parisio Villa Parisio is a villa in Lija, Malta. It was built in the 16th century by the Muscati family, and it eventually passed into the hands of the Parisio Muscati, de Piro and Strickland families. It is currently the seat of The Strickland Foundati ...

Lija Lija ( mt, Ħal Lija) is a small village in the Central Region of Malta. It forms part of the Three villages of Malta, along with Attard and Balzan. Lija has a baroque parish church and seven other small chapels. The parish church is dedicat ...

, Malta. Prior to this she lived in her family home of Villa Bologna, in Attard, Malta - home of her father Lord Strickland.

Career

Strickland founded a newspaper group in Malta with her father and her stepmother, Lady Strickland, DBE (Margaret, daughter of

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 1935 she became editor of ''

The Times of Malta The ''Times of Malta'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Malta. Founded in 1935, by Lord and Lady Strickland and Lord Strickland's daughter Mabel, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in Malta. It has the widest circu ...

'' and "Il Berqa" before taking over as Managing Director of the Group on the death of her father in 1940. The paper never missed an issue throughout the Siege of Malta in World War Two, despite taking direct hits on several occasions. She formed and led the Progressive Constitutionalist Party during the 1950s and was one of the principal political leaders of the 1950s, participating in the integration talks in 1956-57 as well as opposing independence in 1964. She was elected to the Maltese Parliament in 1962. She always fought passionately for a free and independent press and to maintain Malta's ties with Britain and the Commonwealth. On her retirement she established the Strickland Foundation in the name of her family.

Death

Mabel Strickland died on 29 November 1988, and is buried in the Strickland family crypt in St. Paul's Cathedral, Mdina. Having never married or had children of her own, Mabel Strickland's chosen sole heir was her great-nephew Robert Hornyold-Strickland. However upon Strickland's death after Robert Hornyold-Strickland was out of Malta, Mabel, as an old lady, was persuaded to change her will by the lawyer who was to become one of her two Executors. Despite the revised will, her great nephew always remained her sole heir. But a result of the revised and very unclear will, her estate has become the subject of a legal conflict between Hornyold-Strickland and the Strickland Foundation. Mabel Strickland set up this foundation "for herself and her heirs in perpetuity". As soon as Robert Hornyold-Strickland took legal action against the executors in 2010, having tried to find an amicable settlement for decades, the aging Executors saw fit to transfer the majority shareholding in Allied Newspapers Ltd (Times of Malta) that had been held in their own names (as executors of the estate), directly to The Strickland Foundation in a highly irregular manner. This is because The Strickland Foundation is registered as a legal person, being as it is a "body corporate", and is, anyway ineligible to be a shareholder both under Maltese Company Law and also under the terms of Allied Newspapers Ltd own Articles of Associate which disallows any "body corporate" from being a shareholder. This irregular transfer, where no instrument of transfer has ever been produced by the executors, is now also the issue of another court case taken out by Robert Hornyold-Strickland and is still in the courts. Malta Winds
- a website with the full unabridged story can be found a
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References

https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2021-04-07/local-news/It-is-for-the-courts-to-decide-whether-my-claims-are-justified-Robert-Hornyold-Strickland-6736232383 https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2021-04-12/local-news/Strickland-Foundation-hijacked-Mabel-s-legacy-for-their-own-political-ends-Robert-Strickland-6736232531 https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/108808/strickland_heir_on_allied_board_insists_hillman_promotion_was_fait_accompli#.YIRl8pAzZPY {{DEFAULTSORT:Strickland, Mabel Maltese journalists Officers of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing 1899 births 1988 deaths Members of the House of Representatives of Malta Progressive Constitutionalist Party (Malta) politicians 20th-century women writers Maltese women journalists 20th-century Maltese women politicians 20th-century Maltese politicians Leaders of political parties in Malta Maltese people of British descent 20th-century Maltese writers 20th-century Maltese women writers 20th-century journalists English-language writers from Malta

Family and personal life

Residences

Career

Death

See also

References