He was the eldest son of Edward Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester, educated at St Paul's School.
He was a Lady Margaret scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, matriculating 1678, graduating B.A.
[1] He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1688, and Gresham Professor of Physic from 1689 to 1692.
[2] Subsequently, he practised as a doctor at King's Lynn, married against the bishop's wishes, got into debt, and further offended his father by his Jacobite opinions.
The bishop died in 1699, leaving nothing to his son, and accordingly, on the death of the latter in 1708, his widow was in straitened circumstances.