Henry Martyn Robert

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Henry Martyn Robert

Henry Martyn Robert (May 2, 1837 – May 11, 1923) was the author of Robert's Rules of Order, which became the most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure and remains today the most common parliamentary authority in the United States.

Robert was born in Robertville, South Carolina and raised in Ohio, where his father moved the family because of his strong opposition to slavery. After graduating fourth in his class at West Point in 1857 he became a military engineer.

Under command of Silas Casey during the Pig War he built the fortifications on San Juan Island. In the American Civil War, he was assigned to the Corp of Engineers and worked on the defenses of Washington, Philadelphia, and several New England ports.

Robert served as Engineer of the Army's Division of the Pacific from 1867-1871. He then spent two years improving rivers in Oregon and Washington and six years developing the harbors of Green Bay and other northern Wisconsin and Michigan ports. He subsequently improved the harbors of Oswego, Philadelphia, and Long Island Sound and constructed locks and dams on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. As Southwest Division Engineer from 1897 to 1901, Robert studied how to deepen the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River.

Robert was president of the Board of Engineers from 1895 to 1901. He was made brigadier general on April 30, 1901, and was appointed Chief of Engineers. He served until May 2, 1901, when he retired from the Army. Following his retirement, he chaired a board of engineers that designed the Galveston seawall following the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.

He died in Hornell, New York.

He is most famous for his Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies -- a collection of rules regarding paliamentary procedure, published in 1876. He wrote the manual in response to his poor performance in leading a church meeting. He resolved that he would learn about parliamentary procedure before attending another meeting. The rules are loosely based on procedures used in the House of Representatives, but the rule book was not intended for use in national and state legislatures.

His son, Joseph T. Robert, would be the first president of Morehouse College. There is a dormitory on the campus named after him.

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This article contains public domain text from Brigadier General Henry M. Robert. Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. Retrieved on June 17, 2005.