Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stradling, Henry
STRADLING, Sir HENRY (fl. 1642), royalist captain, was fourth son of Sir John Stradling [q. v.] of St. Donat's, Glamorganshire, where he was born probably not later than 1610. He was nominated by the king on 6 May 1631 to be captain of the Tenth Whelp, under the general command of Captain John Pennington [q. v.], who, as admiral of the Narrow Seas, was specially charged with the regulation of the trawling at the Downs and the suppression of piracy and smuggling in the English Channel. In this service Stradling was engaged for the next ten years, and is frequently mentioned in reports and letters to the admiralty. He was in charge of the Swallow on 30 March 1635, and in October captured a small Dunkirk man-of-war off Falmouth. In March 1636–7 he is mentioned as captain of the Dreadnought, but in November was sent in charge of another ship to the Groyne to bring the Duchess of Chevreuse to England. He was then described as a ‘stout able gentleman, but speaks little French.’ In November 1641 it was decided that he should go in the Bonaventure, a ship of 160 men and 557 tons, to the Irish Sea (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–1643, pp. 179, 285; cf. Peacock, Army List, p. 60); but his appointment was challenged in the House of Commons on 10 March 1641–2, though on a division it was approved (Comm. Journals, ii. 474). Soon after this Stradling appears to have been knighted (it is erroneously stated in Nichols's Progresses of James I, iii. 628, that he was knighted on 5 Nov. 1620). On 24 Aug. 1642 the Earl of Warwick was ordered to seize Stradling and Captain Kettleby (Comm. Journals, ii. 735), who were known to be ‘entirely devoted to the king's service,’ and whom parliament, it was said, failed to corrupt. Meanwhile ‘they no sooner endeavoured to bring off their ships to the king, but they were seized upon by the seamen and kept prisoners till they could be sent to land’ (Clarendon, History, v. 377 n., 381; cf. Commons' Journals, ii. 723; and Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. ii. 321, under 22 Aug. 1642).
Stradling next appears at Carlisle, of which Sir Thomas Glemham [q. v.] became governor in July 1644. The town was shortly afterwards closely besieged, and on 26 June 1645 its surrender was agreed upon (A True Copie of the Articles whereupon Carlisle was delivered June [2] 8, 1645). The remains of the garrison, about two hundred foot, with Glemham and Stradling at their head, proceeded to Cardiff, where they joined the king towards the end of July; and, having soon after been converted into dragoons, became the king's lifeguards in his subsequent marches that autumn (Symonds, Diary, pp. 219, 223, 242). At Rowton Heath on 24 Sept. Stradling was taken prisoner (Phillips, Civil War in Wales, ii. 272). On 10 Dec. 1646 Stradling begged to be allowed to compound for his delinquency, but no order was made (Cal. Comm. for Compounding, p. 1597). In June 1647 he, with his brother Thomas and nephew John, the major-general, took a part in an abortive rising among the Glamorganshire gentry (Phillips, ii. 335–9; cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1645–7, p. 592), and they also joined Poyer's revolt in South Wales in 1648, all three being probably present at the battle of St. Fagan's on 8 May 1648. The two brothers were also with Poyer in Pembroke Castle when it was taken by Cromwell on 11 July 1648, and by the articles of surrender it was stipulated that they should both quit the kingdom within six weeks ((Phillips, ii. 397–8).
Stradling is said to have died at Cork, and to have been buried in Trinity Church there [Many details as to Stradling's naval career may be found in the Calendars of State Papers, Dom., between 1631 and 1642. Other authorities are: Jefferson's History of Carlisle, pp. 51–55; Collins's Baronetage, 1720, p. 37; G. T. Clark's Limbus Patrum Morganiæ, p. 438; Phillips's Civil War in Wales.]