The House of Stratford (/strætfərd/) is a British aristocratic family, originating in Stratford-on-Avon between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.

His children and nephews rose to positions of significant power and influence in the political and religious landscape of England in the fourteenth century, and originated all other branches of the family.

[4] Sir Stephen married Elizabeth Monthault, descendant of Eustace de Montaut, and all later cadet branches stem from this union.

[6] Notable members of this line include: Andrew de Stratford, a nephew of John de Stratford and friend of William of Wykeham, moved to the Wessex area as part of his uncle's familia when he became Bishop of Winchester.

[8][9] The Manor of Merevale in north Warwickshire (including the original Merevale Hall and estate) was purchased in the mid-seventeenth century by Edward Stratford (died 1665), 9x great grandson of Sir Stephen de Stratford of Farmcote.

[14] Robert settled at Baltinglass Castle, and his grandson entered the peerage as Earls of Aldborough, of the Palatinate of Upper Ormond.

[25] Notable Wingfield-Stratfords include: Esmé Cecil's daughter (Roshnara) married Richard John Wrottesley, 5th Baron Wrottesley, and though they later divorced it was through issue of their marriage that the Barony descended: There are two main variant coats of arms associated with the Stratford family, Type A (or "trinity") and Type B (or "lion").

The fess humette is apparently intended to represent a banqueting table, with the trestles gathered around.

[28] A single example of a variant Roundel type surviving is in the later Irish recording of a shield in the name of Stratford: argent, a fess between three hawks heads erased, gules.

This could be seen as evidence that the Streatfields, though their line cannot be traced beyond the 1500s, are in fact a branch of the Stratford family, the name having been corrupted at some point prior to the sixteenth century.

[29] The Type B Stratford Coat of Arms was first recorded by the Heralds Visitations to Gloucester of 1543, and since has been consistently based around a lion rampant, gules, on a barruly of ten, Argent and Azure.

[31] The Earls of Aldborough took supporters of human figures, a winged woman and armoured man, representing Fame and War.

The similarity is too close to be dismissed satisfactorily as independent coincidence, and historians have generated various theories as to the connection between the houses and the arms, none conclusive.