I have tried t reconcile census records with the marriages, burials, etc.

I suspect that the Richard of 1852 marriage (butcher) is not the same Richard of the 1861 and later census records.

It is certainly possible that a young man could be following the family business (butchers) at marriage and later change to the more clerical occupations of schoolmaster, clerk to the school commissioners, and solicitor's clerk.

It might be worthwhile looking for a second couple.