Hello again
Apologies for not getting back sooner, but the PC was needed by one of my children!
Many thanks to you all for your research and guidance. It is really, really appreciated.
I am very sorry if I have made any mistakes or, very probably, just not expressed my original post very clearly. I am a beginner at all this and this is why I really do appreciate all your thoughts and comments. I can learn from it all. I certainly don't mean to frustrate anyone!
I did start this research with a 'known' in that it came from conversations with my elderly, living relative who knew their direct ancestor, Jessie Elizabeth Robson (Best) and knew that the family had lived in Heaton, etc. This relative had heard very little about Jessie's husband (except for his name and parents' names and his occupation) and that is why I posted my query.
We had no idea where John William Robson was born, I took Sunderland from the census as JenB suggests and I did point out on my original post that another census says Hartlepool. Maybe I should not have mentioned it, but I didn't know which census was correct and was conscious of trying to give as much information as I thought I had identified without saying anything to potentially identify my living relative.
JenB, I have looked at the census entry you hinted at and marvelled at the address as I know the street! I will look into this further.
Many thanks again to everyone for helping to solve a big part of this mystery and giving me so much more to look into.
Cat