Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet

Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet (26 May, 1782 – 23 December, 1874) was an English Member of Parliament and lawyer.

Strickland was the second son of Sir William Strickland, 6th Baronet, of Boynton in Yorkshire, but his older brother died before him and he inherited the baronetcy on his father's death in 1834.

He started in the law, being called to the Bar in 1810, and practised as a barrister on the Northern Circuit. However, he took an interest in politics, supporting the Whigs and being an ardent supporter of Parliamentary reform and an early advocate of the secret ballot. In 1830, at the height of the agitation over the Great Reform Bill, he stood for Parliament in the by-election for Yorkshire that followed Brougham's appointment as Lord Chancellor, but was defeated by another Whig. However, at the general election the following year both men were returned unopposed,LondonGazette|issue=18804|startpage=948|date=17 May 1831|accessdate=2008-01-10] and Strickland helped vote the Reform Bill into law.

His Yorkshire constituency being divided under the Reform Act, he stood and was elected for the West Riding in 1832, [LondonGazette|issue=19010|startpage=27|date=4 January 1833|accessdate=2008-01-10] which he continued to represent [LondonGazette|issue=19533|startpage=2181|date=18 August 1837|accessdate=2008-01-10] until 1841, in which year he was instead elected member for Preston, [LondonGazette|issue=19998|startpage=1811|date=13 July 1841|accessdate=2008-01-10] a constituency he served for a further sixteen years. [LondonGazette|issue=20763|startpage=2920|date=10 August 1847|accessdate=2008-01-10] [LondonGazette|issue=21339|startpage=1972|date=16 July 1852|accessdate=2008-01-10] He remained a reforming member throughout his career, also advocating church reform and relief for dissenters.

Strickland was also a racehorse breeder of some renown. He lived mainly at Boynton, though his address is recorded as Hildenley in his return as MP for Yorkshire in 1831. In 1844 it seems to have been his opposition that was the principal objection to a projected railway joining Bridlington and York, proposed by George Hudson, which would have passed through Boynton; the railway was never built.

In 1865 he inherited from Nathaniel Cholmley extensive estates at Whitby, Howsham and North Elmsall. In accordance with the terms of Cholmley's will, Strickland adopted by Royal License [LondonGazette|issue=22954|startpage=1882|date=4 April 1865|accessdate=2008-01-10] the surname Cholmley and the arms of Cholmley and Wentworth in place of his own and lived the remaining nine years of his life as Sir George Cholmley. On his death in 1874, however, his eldest son and heir Charles reverted to the Strickland surname and arms.

In 1818 he married Mary, daughter of the Reverend Charles Constable of Wassand, by whom he had three sons and two daughters. From the third, Henry, are descended the Strickland-Constables of Wassand who now hold the baronetcy, which they inherited after the direct Strickland line failed in 1938.

References

* Memorial inscription, Boynton Church, Yorkshire
* A Gooder (ed.) “The Parliamentary Representation of Yorkshire, 1258-1832” (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, 1935)
* J Holladay Philbin, "Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales" (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
* M Stenton (ed.), "Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume I: 1832-1885" (Hassocks: Harvester Press, 1976)
* Victoria County History of the East Riding of Yorkshire