Thanks Maddie, but already done that. Usually my first port of call for such things.

I think I've found one of the sons........Thomas William Ives seems to have married a Sarah Livesey, in St Peters, Liverpool, in 1894. Fathers name is given as Henry George Ives. Maybe his mistake, or just his brothers name......or it's not him.
It's a transcript of the marriage, and on looking for the original marriage entry, it seems there is a gap from 1844 to 1907 for the St Peters Church registers.

But a lot of the census details add up quite nicely, and his absence on some of them are possibly answered by him being a Merchant Seaman.

I've entered all that in my tree, and if it does not pan out, I'll delete it.
Thanks again.
Steve.
