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In 1606 Richard Colby married a Miss Cook in St Olave's, Southwark. The transcription (on Ancestry?) of her forename was 'Ewlalow'. In 1618 they had a son, William, bapt. at St Martin's, Ludgate. The mother's name is given on Family Search as 'Youlaw'. I'm fairly sure this is the same couple. If any of you have access to images of the original records, would you try to interpret what the wife's forename really was?

No relationship is given in 1841 census.

The assumption he is a nephew could mislead you.

Thank you for pointing that out, amondg. The 1841 census markings show that he was living in the same building, but was not part of the household of John and Catherine, so I’d got it into my head that he was related.

In 1841, Edward PRICHARD, aged 6, is listed as the nephew of John and Catherine (née WILLIAMS) ROBERTS, in Lygan y Wern, Flintshire. In 1851 he is listed as Edward Roberts, their 16-year-old son, b. Halkyn. It looks as if he was taken in and informally adopted by John and Catherine. This often happens when the mother of a child dies, and their father can’t cope. Therefore I’m looking for the death of a Mrs Pri(t)chard between 1841 and Edward’s birth in 1835. She would have been the sister of either John (so her maiden name would have been Roberts), or of Catherine (in which case it would have been Williams).
I’ve found an Edward, son of Richard and Jane Prichard, baptised in 1835, and the burial of Jane in Llannefydd in 1837. This all seems to fit, but Llannefydd is in Denbighshire. I can’t find the marriage of Richard and Jane, which might decide whether they are the right parents. I wonder if anyone could help with this.

This is a classic example of several people with the same name being born in the same area in the same year!

You can see that Edward PRICHARD is not a part of the ROBERTS family by the way the census is marked in 1841.  He is a separate person within the same household.

Yes, that plus the fact that he's not listed sequentially, by age, suggests he's not a child of the family.

You have access to Welsh records on FamilySearch
You first need to have a look at Edward's marriage record to see who his father was and his father's occupation.

According to his 1861 marriage certificate, his father was John Roberts (labourer) but that's not necessarily so. It looks as if he'd been fully accepted as the son of John & Catherine, as evidenced by the 1851 and 1861 censuses.

Two Edwards, one the son of Zachariah PRITCHARD and Jane and the other the son of James PRITCHARD and Margaret (both mothers were maiden surname WILLIAMS) - both of those boys appear to be with their own families in further census records.

Either one of these Edwards would have been a likely candidate, but for the fact that they are 'with their own families in further census records'. Blast!

Maybe you will need to follow all of the Edwards baptised to see if they appear in 1841/51.

It looks like that's what I'll have to do! Thank you all for your help.