{{Short description|English businessman and Lord Mayor of London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Sir Thomas Vezey Strong''' (5 October 1857 – 3 October 1920) was an English businessman who was Lord Mayor of London and a Privy Counsellor.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Death of Sir Vezey Strong |work=The Times |date= 4 October 1920|page=13 }}</ref>
He was born in St Andrew Holborn parish, London, the third son of John Strong.<ref name="burkewwii">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Burke, Sir Bernard |editor-link=Bernard Burke |edition= 97th |year=1939 |page=2547|ref=Burke }}</ref> He made his career as a wholesale paper merchant.<ref name="freedom">''London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930''</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Thomas_Vezey_Strong|title=Thomas Vezey Strong|publisher= Graces Guide|access-date= 1 August 2018}}</ref> Strong would say that not only was he born in the City of London, he never left the city.<ref name="times"/>
He became Alderman of Queenhithe in 1897, served as a Sheriff of London in 1904–05 and as Lord Mayor of London in 1910–11. He was invested as a Knight Bachelor in 1905 and made KCVO in 1911.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28549|page=8157|date= 8 November 1911}}</ref>
He was Chairman H.M. Prison Commissioners, Holloway and until 1911 Honorary Colonel of the 1st London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He was also Chairman of the London Temperance Hospital from 1899 to his death.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/arthur-charles-fox-davies/armorial-families--a-directory-of-gentlemen-of-coat-armour-volume-2-dxo/page-205-armorial-families--a-directory-of-gentlemen-of-coat-armour-volume-2-dxo.shtml|title=Armorial families : a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour|first=Arthur|last=Fox-Davies}}</ref> He was made a KBE in the 1918 New Year Honours.<ref name="times"/> In 1911, he was made a Privy Counsellor. He promoted the use of Esperanto <ref>https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5329956</ref>
In 1900, Strong married Elizabeth "Lillie" Mary, daughter of James Hartnoll, of Ganwic, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. The Strongs lived at Ganwic, Barnet.<ref>Armorial Families, seventh edition, A. C. Fox-Davies, Hurst & Blackett Ltd, vol. 2, 1907, p. 1870</ref> They had no children; the engagement of Violet Beatrice Pollard, "adopted daughter of Lady (Vezey) Strong, of Ganwic, Barnet", was announced in ''The Times'' in June 1928,<ref name="times2">{{cite news |title= Marriages |work=The Times |date= 19 June 1928|page=19 }}</ref> and that of John Strong, "adopted son of Lady Vezey Strong", in June 1932.<ref name="times3">{{cite news |title= Forthcoming Marriages |work=The Times |date= 18 June 1932|page=15 }}</ref> Strong died in 1920 after a long illness;<ref name="times"/> his widow died in 1951.<ref name="times4">{{cite news |title= Obituary |work=The Times |date= 14 July 1951|page=8 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=Lord Mayor of London | before=Sir John Knill, 2nd Baronet | after=Sir Thomas Crosby | years=1910–1911}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Thomas Vezey}} Category:1857 births Category:1920 deaths Category:British businesspeople Category:Sheriffs of the City of London Category:20th-century lord mayors of London Category:20th-century English politicians Category:19th-century English politicians Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom