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I am afraid that there is very little to go on. The first record that I have is his marriage certificate which states that he was married at Manchester Parish Church in Nov 1826 to Mary Ann Henshall. It states that he was an Engineer and resided in the Parish. No info at all on his parents. The witnesses were R.A.Hilton and Thos Taylor.
The 1841 England Census states that he was born in Scotland and he was aged 40. They rounded down ages in this census by a factor of 5 years.
The 1851 England Census states that he was born in Scotland - Dumfries and he was aged 53. His occupation is given as an Engine Driver. They did not round down the ages in this census. The enumerator did make a habit of shortening everything and so could have easily missed the 'shire' off Dumfries.
His death certificate states that he died in November 1860 aged 64. It stated that he was a farmer.
It is more likely that the age on the death certificate is more accurate than that given on the 1861 Census, which puts the date of his birth as 1796.
SP says that the only David Dickson born in the area during 1796 was the son of Oswald Dickson and Mary Dinwoodie. If therefore you have any information on this David Dickson I would be very pleased to learn of it.  However there is the other alternative that he was born in 1798 and was the son of Thomas Dickson and Agnes Heron.
Against the two alternatives there always remains the probability that his birth has not been recorded in ScotlandsPeople at all and that he was born in Dumfries.
Any light that you can shed on my dilemma would be appreciated.
Regards  David Dickson

I am researching  the birthplace of my gt gt grandfather David Dickson / Dixon.
He was married in Manchester in 1826, occupation engine driver and remained in the area until he died in 1860.
The England 1851 Census shows that he was born in Dumfries in 1798 however his death cert gives his age as 64 when he died ie he was born in 1796.
All the records show that he spelt his name Dixon, however at various stages, all his descendants by the year 1939 had adopted Dickson as the correct spelling.
My searches in SP reveal only 2 births in Dumfriesshire for a David Dickson in the 1790s.The first was a birth in Mouswald in 1796, parents being Oswald Dickson and Mary Dinwoodie
and the other also at Mouswald in 1798, parents being Thomas Dickson and Agnes Heron.
Is anybody able to help in either discounting these possibilities or preferably confirming that one is my ancestor.
David Dickson