[2] He was educated in Tasmania and England, earning degrees in arts and law, eventually becoming an academic, then a parliamentarian and Solicitor-General of Victoria.
[3] Educated at The Hutchins School, Hobart, and St. John's College, Cambridge, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1861 and Doctor of Laws in 1870.
[1] In 1865 Dobson entered the Victorian Legislative Council of as member for the Southern Province, and held office as Solicitor-General in the Bryan O'Loghlen Ministry from 9 July 1881 to 7 March 1883.
[1][4] Dobson then represented the South Eastern Province from November 1882 to June 1895.,[3] he was Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Council.
[3] Dobson married, on 8 June 1871, Edith Mary, younger daughter of John Carter, Q.C., who died; and he then married Henrietta Louisa, daughter of W. S. Sharland, of New Norfolk, Tasmania.