[5] He was born in Canterbury in 1781[1] as the second son of Jacob Schnebbelie, a confectioner who later became a noted antiquarian draughtsman employed by the Society of Antiquaries of London.
[3] When Jacob died at age 31, leaving his family in poverty, Robert took up his father's profession and continued his work drawing old buildings in London.
[6] He displayed artistic talent from an early age; in 1795 his mother Caroline wrote to John Bowyer Nichols, one of the editors of the Gentleman's Magazine and a benefactor of the family following Jacob's untimely death, to say that she was "taking the liberty of sending you my son, Robert with a few Sketches of his own performance for your inspection".
[2] Nichols wrote that "to the horror of his few friends, his body was found in a lodging, almost destitute of furniture, after having been some days dead; and it was too evident that his death was hastened by privation.
[9] Views of Schnebbelie's artistic merit vary; he has been described by the Canadian art historian Robert R. Wark as "gifted",[10] and by Redgrave as "a good draftsman [sic]",[9] though Martin Hardie is less generous, describing both Schnebbelies as "painstaking but niggling in their draughtsmanship" and their work as "not often ris[ing] above a level of good hack work.