William Stirling (British Army officer, born 1835)


Sir William Stirling was a British Army officer who served as Governor of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and Lieutenant of the Tower of London.

Military career

Stirling was born in 1835 to Charles Stirling and his wife Charlotte Dorothea Stirling. His father had bought an estate at Muiravonside and he had twelve children including William who was the third son.
Educated at Edinburgh Academy and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Stirling was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and saw action at the Battle of Alma, at the Battle of Balaclava and at the Battle of Inkerman as well as the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. He took part in the expedition to China during the Second Opium War in 1860 and saw action again during the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878. Stirling became Assistant Adjutant and Quarter Master General, Woolwich District in 1880, Commander Royal Artillery for Southern District in 1885 and Governor of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1890. In 1893 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1893 Birthday Honours list. He went on to be Lieutenant of the Tower of London in 1900 and was promoted to full general on 5 January 1902, shortly before his retirement in August that year.
The grounds of Stirling's childhood home at Muiravonside near Falkirk are in public ownership and they are open as Muiravonside Country Park.