Green for the children of the three parishes of Hartley, Fawkham and Longfield. By then, it had become a case of ‘Elcomb to his last’ and he was in business as a journeyman shoemaker. He was fortunate in one respect. There had lately been built at Fawkham a row of cottages, known initially, after their builder, as Young’s Cottages but soon to acquire their present name of Six Acre Cottages. William and Rebecca were amongst the first of the young couples of the locality to benefit from this enterprising development and there they made their home.
   Four daughters and a son, William, were born to William and Rebecca at Fawkham and then they moved on to Kingsdown, where another daughter was born. By 1851 they were back on home ground, at Cuckoo Corner, and at Ash their second son, Frederick, was born. Cuckoo Corner was not, however, an entirely appropriate location, for since 1848 William had been parish clerk of Hartley and a move to that parish soon followed. The family then settled in the cottage at Hartley Green where William was to remain for the rest of his days and where, about 1854, his youngest child, Alfred James, was born. There he carried on his trade and, perhaps from some Victorian preference in 

footwear, now described himself as a Boot Maker or, sometimes, as a Boot and Shoe Maker. By 1861 he was assisted by young William, ‘Boot Maker’s Son’, and by 1871 his helpmate was Alfred James, at sixteen a fully fledged ‘Boot and Shoe Maker’. Some of his daughters went into service. Local parsonages ever provided suitable venues in this respect for the girls of respected parish tradesmen; in their time, two of William’s daughters worked for the Revd Mr Allen at the ever-size Hartley Rectory that he had built when a tiresome Bishop required him to live in the parish.
   The Hartley to which William repaired had only about two hundred and thirty inhabitants and it might be thought that his ancillary occupation as parish clerk was something of a sinecure. Not so, for he was also sexton and his duties extended to grave-digging, bell-ringing, churchyard-keeping and church-cleaning. His stipend was 2s. 6d. per week, but after twenty years he was warned that if the seats in the church were not kept dusted that would be reduced. The seats were not kept dusted and reduced it was - by £1.10s. per annum. Still, he served another twenty years at the new rate of £5 a year¹⁶ and died in harness and ripe in age in