Nobbs wrote in a letter dated August 1852 that he was the illegitimate son of an aristocratic father and mother.

Their marriage licence, taken out at Ormesby, Norfolk and dated 30 June 1800 stated that Nobbs was a bachelor of Great Yarmouth employed as a mariner (and later a schoolmaster) and that Hunn a single woman of Runham.

He spent his youth serving aboard various merchant ships, visiting both India and Africa.

Nobbs sailed with Moresby to Valparaíso, Chile then continued onward to London, arriving in October 1852.

During his two-month visit to England he was ordained as a minister in the Colonies, was accredited by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel with an annual stipend of £50, addressed the first meeting of the Pitcairn Fund Committee, and was received by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Osborne House.

In 1856, the community moved to Norfolk Island, a crown colony previously occupied by convict prisoners.