Hi Jeff,
I wouldn't worry too much about the offence. It was trivial and I think the listing of both sentence and fine means that he could just pay up and so may not have done time at all.
The value of the criminal records is that the later ones give a place of birth (which will only be as accurate as the person themselves knew) and a current address and next of kin. The address confirms that this Christopher was the brother of the Elizabeth Archbold who married Thomas Flusk, although it only names her as Mrs Flusk. Thomas got into trouble for minor offences on several occasions. They also give a description of the accused.
The CoI marriage does not give as much detail as the catholic one so, by itself does not prove Mary is the same family, but the combination of father's name and being godparents to each other's children make it highly likely.
The variations in family name make it hard to be sure who was absent and who was just misrepresented on the census records but, if someone did happen to be locked up or even in hospital over the census night, they might be represented just by initials on an institution form, so very difficult to find.
