Stratford St Leger received his early schooling at Tonbridge School in England and completed his education at Diocesan College in Rondebosch, Cape Town. He had captained Bishops at cricket and rugby union, after he had completed his schooling he was commissioned into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1890 and during his first nine years of peacetime soldiering he played much cricket for the Army team. In 1895 he married Louisa Anne Galwey and had one daughter, Moira Murdoch of Milnerton, Cape Town.
