He was born in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, the son of Thomas Heron of Chilham Castle, Kent, Recorder of Newark and educated at St John's College, Cambridge.
He inherited his baronetcy and extensive estates in Lincolnshire from his uncle, Sir Richard Heron, 1st Baronet on the latter's death in 1805.
[10] The estate had belonged to the Heron family from since 1789, and the 17th-century hall was extensively rebuilt in the early 19th century by Sir Robert.
[10] He also kept a large menagerie, and successfully bred a range of exotic animals including llamas, alpacas.
[1] The estate passed to George Nevile, a relation of Amelia, and then to Sir Ralph Wilmot, 6th Baronet, on whose death it was sold to Edmund Royds.