[1] He was born in Newcastle to mine manager William Robson and Annie Veitch.
He was educated at East Maitland and Wollongong and worked in a coal office before becoming a Methodist minister.
He preached at Young, Braidwood, Waratah and Morpeth before leaving the ministry around 1879.
On 17 March 1868 he had married Annie Robertson, with whom he had three children; one of them, also called William, continued the family's political tradition.
He was a Member of Council of Newington College from 1898 until 1920 and was a lay preacher and strong advocate of union of the Methodist churches.