 As for many individuals of his time, Stansby's date of birth is unrecorded — though the event likely occurred shortly before his baptism on 8 July 1572.He was one of fourteen children of Richard Stansby, a cutler from Exeter.At Christmas 1589/90 William Stansby was apprenticed to the London stationer John Windet; Stansby completed his apprenticeship and became a freeman of the Stationers Company, the guild of London printers and booksellers, on 7 January 1597.