Her 1885 marriage certificate names her father as Matthew MacFarlane, a carrier. The 1841 census shows a Matthew Macfarlane, carrier, his wife Ann and daughter Hannah of the right age living in Lever Street, Manchester.

Hannah Sophia MacFarlane was baptised 11/12/1833 at St Michael's, Macclesfield; the record names her parents as William and Ann.

The 1861 census shows Hannah (named here as Anna) as unmarried and living with her widowed mother Ann, both born in Macclesfield, and two children, William and Frederick, whose ages indicate that they were conceived since the death of Ann's husband Matthew in 1849. Ann is identified as the head of the household. Although the children are described as sons in relation to Ann, Frederick's birth certificate shows that he is in fact Hannah's son, and - since the father is not identified and Hannah is named using her maiden name - that he is probably illegitimate. The same is true for Frederick's brother, George (born 1865), and so is almost certainly true for William.

Hannah's adoption of the surname Robinson occurred between the 1861 census, when she is an unmarried McFarlane, and the 1871 census in which she is a widowed Robinson. Her son Frederick's marriage certificates identify his father as William Robinson. To date I have found no record of Hannah's marriage to William Robinson, nor any record of the birth of Robert (1866-67) consistent with these circumstances.


Each census indicates that she was born in Macclesfield in 1833-34. She was a widow by the age of 37 (1871 census). She subsequently married her widowed former next-door neighbour (1871 census) on Christmas day 1885.

By the time of the 1901 census she was again widowed, and working as a domestic servent. In the 1911 census entry for Fred and Annie Pickford's family she is listed as Hannah Hallam, "wife's grandma".