Stretch was born at Geelong, Victoria, Australia and educated at Geelong Church of England Grammar School and Trinity College, Melbourne, where, on 2 July 1872, he was the first student to enrol in the first residential college erected in association with the University of Melbourne.
University of Melbourne.
He graduated Bachelor in 1874 and Bachelor of Laws in 1887. Ordained in 1878, he began his ordained ministry as a curate in Geelong. In 1892, Stretch became Vicar of Street Andrew"s Church, Brighton, Melbourne having previously served as incumbent of Holy Trinity Church, Maldon and Street Mark"s Church, Fitzroy.
Appointed to be Dean of Ballarat in 1894 and Dean of Newcastle in 1900, in 1906 he was elevated to the episcopy as the Bishop of Newcastle in New South Wales.
He was buried in Sandgate cemetery, Newcastle.
