Thanks to Alan - complicated is right!
You're right that there were two couples named Thomas and Elizabeth Hall in Audlem at the time. Mine was a tailor, who married Elizabeth Dooler (not Dooley). The other was a farmer in the adjacent parish of Buerton. I have taken care to claim only those children where the baptism records show their father as a tailor. They are Hannah (1809-13), William (1814), Thomas (1817), Samuel (1817-1879), Helen (1821), Betty (1823) and my ancestor Sarah (1825-1893).
A typo on my part for Thomas junior's birth - I agree it is 1817.
Thomas born in 1818 was the son of Joseph, a farmer, whereas mine is shown as the son of Thomas the tailor on the marriage record to Elizabeth Dale in 1841. At that time they both lived in Hanley. I then found them in Worsley, Lancs, with one son born in Hanley, and the other 3 in Worsley. Then in 1861 I found Thomas, widowed, in Caverswall, Staffs, with the three younger children and with his mother-in-law Margaret Dale also living there, no doubt to look after the children. As you know, this is the record that also shows the mysterious "brother" Joseph.
That's the sum of my research so far - I don't know if it suggests any further ideas you can offer.
P.S. Thanks to Shaun - what was the Liver Club?