[1] Born the son of Major Charles Stirling (1870–1914) of Ropers Hall, Bures, Suffolk and his wife the Hon.
Amy Harriott Gurdon (1864–1944) (daughter of Lord Cranworth), William Stirling attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from which he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 30 August 1926.
[3] Stirling went on to be Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War in 1961 and Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine and Commander, Northern Army Group in 1963; he retired in 1966.
[3] From 1967 to 1973 Stirling was Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State, an officer of the Royal Household.
[4][5] In 1941 Stirling married Frances Marguerite Wedderburn Wilson and together they went on to have three daughters.