It was through you, Ros, and the clue about his brother Jacob. They were the ones you found in the 1851 census. It just said Bedford as their birth county, so I looked up Jacob in 1861, then living in Kent. He gave his place of birth as Potton. So I looked up Potton in Hugh Wallis' Batch Numbers and found the whole family. Jacob's middle name was Miller, his grandmother's name I think. William Tear married Elizabeth Miller in 1790 at Potton. In the 1861 census Jacob is shown as Jacob.M. Tear. By that census his father William had died (in 1856). Richard and Jacob's mother was Judith Richards.
Can't confirm that William was the son of William and Elizabeth though as I can't find a baptism for him c.1792.
So thanks again for your help.
