Robert Alexander was born on his family's estate at Head of Elk in Cecil County, Maryland about 1740.
He was re-elected, 4 July 1776, but soon after the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence he sailed for England with other Baltimore loyalists.
By the summer of 1778, when the British abandoned Philadelphia, Alexander fled to England onboard a Royal Navy ship, and made his way to London in 1782.
In 1780, the State of Maryland judged Alexander guilty of high treason, and seized most of his property.
His estate became the town of Elkton, Maryland, although the wife he had abandoned was allowed to keep the main house that his father had built in 1735.