 He was educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and proceeded to Gray's Inn though he seems not to have qualified as a barrister.He was knighted in 1630, and in 1640 was elected to Parliament as member for Hedon.Initially he seems to have been a friend and supporter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, to whom he was distantly related (Strickland’s mother was a Wentworth), although he is not one of the MPs who was listed as voting against Strafford’s attainder.