Aged 9 years in the 1861 census and 19 years in the 1871 census, so born 1851-52.

Aged 28, a railway labourer, in the 1881 census, so born 1852-53.

All the census entries show he was born in Manchester, but a search of the General Register Office (UK) website does not reveal any Manchester- or Salford-registered births between 1851 and 1853 of either William MacFarlane or William Robinson to a mother whose maiden name is MacFarlane.