Dransfield was born Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 1827, where his father, also Joseph, was the owner of the Rookery Woollen Mills.

He was educated in Huddersfield and migrated to Australia in 1852 on the Falcon when he was 25 years old before coming to Wellington in 1857.

His mother and father also settled in New Zealand living for a time in Lyttelton.

They were major coal merchants into the 1860s, with supply contracts for the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company, and M'Meckan Blackwood's fleets.

[3] Dransfield carried on in business until ill health forced his retirement in 1888.