William Herbert Groom was born on the 27th August 1902 in Calcutta, India and baptised at St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta on the 27th September 1902. He was the second son of John Bax Groom, a master mariner, and Charlotte Elizabeth Groom, nee Long, of Chediston Grange, Halesworth.
William went to school at Woodbridge and gained his M.A. degree at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, in 1926 and the following year went out to Malaya, where he remained as a rubber-planter until 1938. On his return to England he entered Ridley Hall, Cambridge, to study for the Ministry.
He was ordained a curate at St. Margaret's Leiston in December 1939 and remained there until he became a Chaplain in the R.A.F. in 1941 until his demobilisation.
In 1934 he married Margaret MacGachen, only daughter of the late Rev. A.H. MacGachen, rector of Monewden, and Mrs MacGachen of Highlands, Chelmondiston, at the parish church of Chelmondiston. Following the reception, at Highlands, the couple left for a yachting honeymoon. William was a member of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club. He was a keen oarsman and had been secretary of the Peterhouse Boat Club and his achievements included the winning of the Lowe Double Sculls and the Fairbairn Sculls. They had 3 children, Archie Malcolm MacGachen, Ruth and Samuel R.R., born 1941
On 24th March 1946 William was instituted to the vicarage of Hoxne and Denham.
In May 1949 William left Hoxne to become Rector of Hollesley. His wife, Margaret, died on the 12th January 1954. In September 1954 he was married again. His new wife was Jane Christine Kirk Beattie, only child of the late Rev. Edward A. Beattie and Mrs Beattie of The Towers, Carrow Hill, Norwich. They were married at St. Mary's Church, Horham, where the bride's father, a prominent public worker in Hartismere and a J.P., was rector for 6 years until his death in 1950. The couple were to have a three month honeymoon travelling around the world, leaving Liverpool on the S.S. Ascania on the 9th September for Montreal.
William died on the 15th November 1966 at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.