Thomas Strickland (Cavalier)

The Stricklands were a Catholic family, but J.P. Kenyon believes that Sir Thomas was outwardly a Protestant when elected to the House of Commons, and later converted to Catholicism sometime after 1661.

Ultimately the Test Act 1673, requiring them to acknowledge the King as head of the Church, made it impossible for the few remaining Catholics in Parliament to retain their seats.

[8] During the Popish Plot, he was vulnerable to attack as an open Papist, but his age and ill health made him an unlikely conspirator and his record of loyalty to the Crown preserved him from danger.

[9] A search of Sizergh Castle for arms produced only a few remnants of his Civil War armour,[10] and he further secured his safety by swearing an oath to defend the King against all his enemies, domestic and foreign, even the Pope himself.

[12] Sir Thomas was succeeded in his estates by his eldest son, Walter, who had been able to recover Sizergh, through the common (though technically illegal) device of creating a trust by which the lands were made over to Protestant neighbours,[12] who later reconveyed them to him.