William Strickland (navigator)

William Strickland (died 8 December 1598) was an English landowner who sailed on early voyages of exploration to the Americas and is credited with introducing the turkey into England.

This time he found himself at the centre of a constitutional crisis, one of Parliament's earliest assertions of its privilege to conduct its proceedings without royal interference with its members.

Strickland spoke on both the first two days of the session, 6 April 1571 and 7 April 1571; on the second of these he put forward a motion to reintroduce six bills to reform the Book of Common Prayer, which had been defeated in the previous parliament; the Speaker allowed the bills to be read, but the Queen had previously directed that Parliament should not debate such matters, and this earned the house a royal reprimand.

Then on the last day before the Easter recess, 14 April 1571, Strickland introduced his own bill to reform the prayer book – among other measures it proposed to abolish confirmation, prevent priests from wearing vestments and end the practice of kneeling at the Communion.

There is some disagreement between historians of the period as to whether Strickland should be considered the prime mover in the controversy he caused, or merely a spokesman of the Puritan faction following a course of action directed by its ringleaders.