William Strickland served more than 20 years spanning the 19th and 20 centuries on the Committee of the Western Australian Turf Club.
William Strickland served more than 20 years spanning the 19th and 20 centuries on the Committee of the Western Australian Turf Club, six of which he spent driving major changes as the organisation's Chairman.
Born in Perth in 1841, Strickland was the Perth Boys School's first dux who followed his father, Henry, into the hotel business. Strickland quit being a hotelier in 1896, by which stage he had already been involved with the WATC for nearly 10 years. Strickland ascended to the position of WATC Chairman in 1902 and led the club through the first of its many progressive periods, which included contracting James Wright to build what are now heritage-listed buildings and buying the city block of land that housed the organisation's headquarters for 60 years. Strickland died in 1927 aged 85.