The eldest son of Sir Thomas Stradling, he studied at the University of Oxford, but left without graduating, and travelled on the continent, spending some time at Rome.
[1] Anthony Wood wrote of Stradling as a benefactor, antiquarian, manuscript collector, and owner of a library at St. Donat's.
[3] Stradling is also mentioned by Lewys Dwnn among those who had written on the history or genealogies of the whole of Britain, a researcher in records kept by religious houses.
In 1645–46 James Ussher spent almost a year at St. Donat's Castle, where he researched antiquarian matters that in 1686 had passed to Richard Parr.
[1] Stradling bore the expense of the publication of John Dafydd Rhys's Welsh grammar Cambrobrytannicæ Linguæ Institutiones (London, 1592); Meurig Dafydd, a Glamorgan poet, addressed a cywydd to Stradling and Rhys on the publication of the grammar, and referred to the former as a master of seven languages.