and was born on the family estate (Horns Point) at Cambridge in Dorchester County, Province of Maryland on December 3, 1733.

As a young man Robert travelled to London to study law at the Middle Temple and graduated in December 1752,[1] where he was admitted to the bar in February 1757.

He attended the Philadelphia College (now the University of Pennsylvania), and graduated in 1760[1] before resuming the practice of law in Cambridge, Maryland.

He withdrew from the Continental Congress six weeks before the Declaration of Independence to return home and work towards Maryland's first constitution.

He died the following year at home at Horns Point, and is buried in the Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery in Cambridge, Maryland.