Mary Isabella Thompson, aged 19, married Benjamin Swinhoe in Sunderland in 1875. Her father was one Richard Thompson, Shipwright, according to the marriage register details. I am trying to trace back her family and I have reason to believe that Mary Isabella may have been illegitimate, as I am having extreme difficulty finding her living with a father of that name in the 1861 and 1871 censuses.

One likely candidate was a Richard Weatherburn Thompson, shipwright, (born S. Shields) who married Barbara Morton in 1860, but I have not been able to connect her conclusively with this family. Other possibilities have also proved to be dead ends. Can anyone help to shed light on this mystery?