Staggins first studied music under his father. He was made Master of the King's Music by Charles II in 1674, but was succeeded five years before his death by John Eccles. In 1684 he became professor of music at Cambridge University.
His works include music for John Crowne's masque Calisto, or The Chaste Nymph and odes for the birthdays of William III and Queen Anne. He also wrote incidental music for John Dryden's Conquest of Granada and Marriage a la Mode, George Etheridge's The Man of Mode, Nathaniel Lee's Gloriana, and Thomas Shadwell's Epsom Wells.