Hi Mark,
What I am thinking (suggesting) is that Richard and Elizabeth did not marry in Greasley for some reason in the 1820s and he didn't make "an honest woman" of her until much later (1855). I may be maligning them.
Sandwell is in the area they were living inthe 1850s.
Elizabeth was we think the daughter of Timothy Stapleton and Hannah (Wilcockson). They had daughters Elizabeth and Phoebe.(Phoebe married Richard's brother William.)
The IGI isn't terribly good for Nottinghamshire.
Richard and Elizabeth had children baptised in Greasley parish church and later in a Methodist church meeting in a schoolroom in Beaverlee or Beggarlee which is a hamlet in Greasley. I have baptisms for 6 children, Thomas,Eliza, Richard, Samuel, Timothy, & Phoebe. The baptism of Samuel gives the mother's surname.
hope this makes sense
Cire