He was the nephew and pupil of William Green, who was piper to the Duke of Northumberland, and was later appointed as his assistant in this role.
[1] However, he was already performing alone at this time; a newspaper article [2] states that the Duchess's Piper being prevented from playing there by illness, his young nephew Robert Nicholson, then 18, "just the age of the late famed Wm Lamshaw, when he bore away the prize at a musical match at Elsdon Court Baron" , deputised for him, playing for the first time unassisted.
Again, the following year, at a celebration of Earl Percy's wedding, in North Shields, Nicholson deputised for Green, who said he was unable to attend the event at short notice.
The Duchess's pipers, that is William Green and Robert Nicholson, played at Ovingham Fair in 1826.
Two years after Nicholson's death, Thomas Chisholm was appointed as piper to the Duke of Northumberland for the Manor of Tynemouth, as his successor in the role.