Marchford probably came from the Isle of Ely, since his will contains a number of bequests to the church, the bridge and the poor of ‘Marchford’ (now March, Cambridgeshire). Very little is known about his background, although it is possible that the land and tenements in the nearby village of Doddington which he owned at the time of his death were part of a family estate. One of his kinsmen became rector of Wells (Norfolk) which suggests that the Marchfords were not without influence or connexions. William himself was apprenticed to the wealthy London mercer, John Maymond, a master whom he evidently regarded with great respect and affection. He had set up in business on his own account by 1390, for between March of that year and May 1391 he shipped cloth and other luxury goods worth £600 into the port of London, presumably for sale on his own premises. Two apprentices were already learning their trade under his direction by 1392, and from then until his death, some 21 years later, at least eight other young men followed them in his service.
A substantial proportion of Marchford’s commercial profits were invested in land, both in London and the country. Some of his property came to him through marriage, since his second wife, Alice, held a life interest in estates around Buntingford and Alswick in Hertfordshire. These had been settled upon her, together with a dyehouse and land at St. Paul’s Wharf, London, by her first husband, and may have led Marchford to purchase more extensive holdings in the neighbouring villages of Therfield, Buckland and Burleigh. Here he owned five messuages and almost 300 acres of land at the time of his death, as well as the above-mentioned property at Doddington, and, according to his will, a game of swans, perhaps along with fishing and hunting rights, on the Isle of Ely. Marchford was one of the enterprising city merchants who, in 1405, bought up several plots of freehold land in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, possibly in order to set up commercial premises in the town.
Not much is known about Marchford’s finances, although he clearly did well for himself and died a wealthy man. His appointment as an auditor of London in 1395 and the commission given to him in 1402 by the city chamberlain to examine certain private accounts imply a considerable degree of financial expertise on his part. Although he experienced some trouble in recovering debts from those with whom he did business, he never appears to have been persistently owed more than £36 by any single individual, and was but rarely driven to invoke the law. He incurred considerable commitments of his own, however: in February 1410, for example, he joined with two others mercers, Thomas Aleyn and John Whatley, in binding himself to pay £600 to Sir John Lumley and William Mayhew over the next four years. The recognizances were cancelled, but two months later identical ones were drawn up in favour of William Cromer, the draper, who duly acknowledged payment of the money in six instalments.
Marchford died between 1 Dec. 1413 and 13 Jan. 1414, and was buried in St. Paul’s churchyard next to his first wife, Katherine. In his will he made bequests of more than £730 in cash, over and above a settlement of goods and plate worth £500 upon his widow, and many generous gifts of plate to friends. He also bestowed alms and vestments upon an unusually large number of city churches and other religious houses in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, most of which fared considerably better than the Mercers’ Company with its relatively humble legacy of £5. Marchford’s will refers only to one of his sons, William, who was not then seven, although the codicil mentions two other children, John and Margery, both of whom may have been the offspring of his first marriage.