Born in 1718, Walter Stirling entered the Royal Navy.

On 30 October 1753 he married Dorothy Willing, the daughter of Charles Willing, a Philadelphia merchant.

According to family stories, he persuaded the family of Horatio Nelson to let Horatio join the navy, and he lost the opportunity to be appointed Governor of Halifax as he was visiting his wife in Scotland when the offer came in.

In 1780 he was captain of the Gibraltar, and was present when Admiral George Rodney captured the island of Sint Eustatius from the Dutch during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.

A grandson by his daughter Anne was James Stirling, first Governor of Western Australia, and himself an admiral in later life.