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. He served in the
Second World War as Assistant Military Secretary at the
War Office and was deployed to North Africa and North West Europe. ==Family==