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Thank you to all who have replied to this post.  Since posting I have been able to establish that Anne Wallis-Tayler/Taylor's husband was Captain Alexander Taylor and that Pigot & Co's "Dublin and Hibernian Directory" published  London 1824, includes in a list of the principal inhabitants of Cove (ie Cobh/Queenstown) ..
ROCHE'S ROW.
Alexander Taylor, surgeon....."
Source: photocopy of pages of local information held in Cobh Museum, July 2007. 
I would highly recommend this museum to anyone with a genealogical interest who is visiting Cobh and the Cork area. (The Queenstown Story in the Cobh is also recommended).  A very attractive town too.
Whist in southern Ireland last summer we were able to establish that the house in Roche's Row is now gone -  Wolf Tone Street and St Colman's Cathedral are now in the vicinity.  We reckon the house could have stood on the site which is now the cathedral car park, and would have been close to what was referred to as "the Admiral's house" - a Georgian house, which remains.
I'll try to follow up your helpful directions Christopher when time or budget permit.
The "Wallis" line which comes from the wife's side seems to point to Drishane and the Wallis family established there - although curiously the bookplate we have does not seem to match the Wallis coat-of-arms.  Another mystery!

Dear grlune
I'm trying to find more information to get me a little further back on my family tree.  James Clay died Catherwell, Stourbridge on 1st April 1846, aged 68.  A plumber and glazier by trade.  On 1841 census he was living alone at Bell Lane, Old Swinford.  I think his wife must have predeceased him, and his son was working in Astley.....so I have very little to go on.  Any chance of an MI?
Thanks
Katessanna 

In 1838 John FOOTMAN married Susan(nah) WILLS in Martley.  He was living in Shrawley at the time, and was a shoemaker.  In 1851 the family was living in Shrawley. Please could somebody see if they can be found in 1841, by which time they would have a young son, also John?
Thanks
Kate

I have tantalizing information in an old letter from my husband's long deceased aunt, but cannot make any progress in solving the riddle she bequeathed him.  She and my husband shared ancestors in the Hilton family in Kent.
She is sure that the grandfather of Capt Thomas Hilton's wife Ann(e) was James Wallis "on the Irish side".  We have a "James Wallis" bookplate, and he is, according to the aunt, my husband's 4g grandfather.
She said that James Wallis's wife was descended from the Fitzgeralds "and whose great-grandpa was the famous knight of Kerry".   She had inherited a Fitzgerald crested tea-tray.
So my questions are: who was Thomas Hilton's wife Ann(e); who were her parents and grandparents; and how can I find out?
Capt. Thomas Hilton was born 12 Dec 1813, Selling, Kent, and he died there in 1883.  He was said to be a Capt in 19th Regt of Foot.   According to family sources he married Anne Wallis-Tayler, daughter of Capt Wallis-Tayler, Surgeon Capt; RNMD of Queenstown,  Ireland.   According to the birth certificate of Thomas and Anne's daughter in 1862  Anne's maiden name was Tayler.  According to the IGI Ann Taylor was born 3 Nov 1822 of Hawboline, Queenstown, Cork, Ireland; it also lists Ann Taylor born about 1820 in Cloyne Diocese, Cork who married, in 1841, Thomas Hilton, Cloyne Diocese, Cork.  There is also an entry for a marriage on 1 July 1841.
Anne had a relative (sister or cousin perhaps?) referred to as Dora Wallis-Tayler.  Dora married Col Robert Campbell; their daughter Mary was born in Cape Town in 1849. 
It looks as if there should be good sources, but I can't find relevant references in on-line indexes and I find myself going round in circles.  And I don't have ready access to Irish or military records, so  please can anyone give me suggestions as to how to approach this problem.  Many thanks.