Henry Martyn Robert was born May 2, 1837, in South Carolina. In 1857 he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating fourth in his class. He joined the Army Engineers, and was soon (in 1859) dispatched to San Juan Island, then a point of contention between the United States and Great Britain. Second Lieutenant Robert supervised the construction of a fort that became known as "Robert's Redoubt", though it was sometimes called "Robert's Gopher Hole" due to the amount of digging that was necessary to throw up what he considered proper fortifications.

Most of Robert's career was involved with many river and harbor improvement projects undertaken by the United States government. These included lighthouses on Lakes Michigan, Erie, Ontario, and Champlain; improvements on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers; and the construction of the Galveston seawall. The latter was his largest project, spurred by the disastrous hurricane of 1900. The seawall constructed under Robert's supervision saved the city from potentially major hurricane damage in 1909 and 1915, and continues today as a major protection for this important Gulf coast port.

In 1890 and 1891, Robert served on the Board of Commissioners that governed the District of Columbia.

In 1901, just before reaching retirement age, Robert was promoted to brigadier general and made Chief of Engineers for the U.S. Army.

But Robert's name lives on in fame for a reason totally unconnected with his military work. One night in 1863, he was asked to preside over a church meeting. Apparently he made a total botch of this and was hideously embarrassed.

So began his quest to understand the rules of parliamentary procedure. He read what he could find on the subject and investigated the way that meetings were run by various organizations. Then, being of orderly mind, he set his findings down on paper. The first edition, published in February 1876, was titled Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies, but it immediately became known by the cover short title of Robert's Rules of Order, under which it continues to this day.

The Fourth edition, issued in 1915, was extensively reworked by Robert himself, and had the official title of Robert's Rules of Order Revised. In 1970 a team of authors including some descendents of Robert revised it again, producing Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised. Up to and through the ninth edition in 1990, it has sold over four million copies.

Robert is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in the United States. His tombstone reads simply "Henry Martyn Robert, Brigadier General, Chief of Engineers, United States Army, 1837-1923". His wife Isabel is buried with him.