William Hougham came from a leading Canterbury family and was variously a magistrate, Steward of Canterbury Races, member of the Board of Agriculture, and subscriber to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital (where his father was on the committee). On 15th August 1780 he married Sarah Robinson, daughter of Charles Robinson and Mary Greenland Dawkes. They had no children and he left his entire estate to his wife. He was an avid huntsman, and it was a condition of his will that his horses and dogs should be allowed to live to the end of their natural lives.