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 was, after attending and later graduating from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 30 August 1926.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives 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.
