Sir William Strickland, 4th Baronet

For other people named William Strickland, see William Strickland (disambiguation).

Sir William Strickland, 4th Baronet PC (c. 1686  1 September 1735) was an English Member of Parliament (MP) and Government Minister in Sir Robert Walpole's administration.

Strickland was the eldest son of Sir William Strickland of Boynton, a Yorkshire landowner and Member of Parliament, and his wife Elizabeth Palmes.

In 1708 Strickland's father, who for some years had been MP for the local borough of Malton, was instead chosen as Member for Yorkshire – a much more prestigious constituency – and Strickland took his place representing Malton. He remained MP for Malton until 1715, then represented Carlisle from 1715 to 1722 and finally Scarborough for the remaining thirteen years of his life. He inherited the baronetcy on his father's death in 1724. From the first he was a loyal Whig, recognised as a strong speaker and becoming a friend of Robert Walpole. He held a succession of junior posts. He was a Lord of the Treasury from 1725 to 1727, and also became Treasurer of the Household to the Queen. In 1729 he chaired a Parliamentary Committee on reform of the legal profession.

In 1730, when Walpole reconstructed his government and promoted Henry Pelham to be Paymaster-General, Strickland was chosen to take his place as Secretary at War (arguably the most important ministerial post outside the cabinet), and was made a Privy Counsellor. This post he held until forced to retire by ill health in May 1735; he died later the same year at Boynton.

Away from Parliament, Sir William spent a considerable sum on ambitious alterations to his home, Boynton Hall, commissioning Lord Burlington to design a new frontage and William Kent to design the interiors. However, when he returned from London to view the work he found to his fury that the local builders had failed to follow Lord Burlington's instructions, and the rebuilt hall bore little resemblance to the plans, in particular having an "old-fashioned roof" instead of the fashionable Palladian style he had been expecting!

He married Catherine Sambrooke, daughter of Sir Jeremy Sambrooke, and they had one son – George, who succeeded him in the baronetcy – and one daughter. His wife outlived him by more than thirty years, dying on 9 February 1767.

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Hon. Henry Pelham
Secretary at War
1730–1735
Succeeded by
Sir William Yonge
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Sir William Strickland, Bt
William Palmes
Member of Parliament for Malton
with William Palmes 1708–1713
Thomas Watson-Wentworth 1713–1715

1708–1715
Succeeded by
Thomas Watson-Wentworth
Thomas Watson-Wentworth the younger
Preceded by
Thomas Stanwix
Sir Christopher Musgrave, Bt
Member of Parliament for Carlisle
with Thomas Stanwix 17151721,
Henry Aglionby 17211722

17151722
Succeeded by
Henry Aglionby
James Bateman
Preceded by
John Hungerford
William Thompson
Member of Parliament for Scarborough
with John Hungerford 17221730,
William Thompson 17301735

17221735
Succeeded by
Viscount Dupplin
William Thompson
Baronetage of England
Preceded by
William Strickland
Baronet
(of Boynton)
17241735
Succeeded by
George Strickland
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