Dobson was born in the small fishing village of Keiss in Caithness, then in the 1890s, Dobson had moved to the Cardiff Docks area (a port in southern Cardiff) where he had become a coal trimmer.
Cardiff Docks (Welsh: Dociau Caerdydd) is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. Dobson was born in the small fishing village of Keiss in Caithness, Scotland, but by 1873 his family is living in the Pontypridd area of Wales. In the 1890s Dobson had moved to the Cardiff Docks area where he had become a coal trimmer. 
