I gave a full reply yesterday but it doesn't appear to have all come through from looking below. Barlow as Alice's maiden name came from 2 Canadian documents found on the LAC site showing details of both of Christopher's marriages, in each case he had to give his parents' names & Barlow was entered as his mother's maiden name. As this was the first evidence I'd found for his parents names, I used that in good faith. I had also looked for marriages between John Hough and Alice..., had seen the Sandbach one but at the time dismissed it as a possible transcribing error with Sandbach being in Cheshire. Having read the various comments posted here yesterday, I had a fresh look on FindMyPast & concur with what you've told me. There is obviously some connection to the Barlow family somewhere along the line but not as a marriage. Interestingly, on Alice & John's marriage entry, she has a father listed as James (Sandbach) even though her mother had her outside of marriage, her grandfather was also called Richard & no evidence of a brother to Elizabeth called James
I haven't gone into the censuses in any depth yet
Thanks for your help, hopefully this full reply will post