Henry Martyn Robert

Henry Martyn Robert
Henry Martyn Robert
Born	(1837-05-02)May 2, 1837 Robertville, South Carolina
Died	May 11, 1923(1923-05-11) (aged 86) Hornell, New York
Buried at	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1857–1901
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	Chief of Engineers
Battles/wars	Pig War American Civil War
Other work	author of Robert's Rules of Order

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. Robert's father, Reverend Joseph Thomas Robert, later became the first president of Morehouse College where there is a dormitory on the campus named after him. Robert was nominated to West Point from Ohio, and graduated fourth in his class 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 Corps of Engineers and worked on the defenses of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and several New England ports.

Robert served as Engineer of the Army's Division of the Pacific from 1867 to 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, New York, 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 received a tombstone promotion to 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, Texas seawall following the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.

He died in Hornell, New York, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He is most famous for his Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (also known as "Robert's Rules of Order") —a collection of rules regarding parliamentary procedure, published in 1876.^[1] He wrote the manual in response to his poor performance in leading a church meeting that erupted into open conflict because of abolitionist concerns at the First Baptist Church, 149 Williams Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He resolved that he would learn about parliamentary procedure before attending another meeting.^[2] The rules are loosely based on procedures used in the United States House of Representatives, but the rule book was not intended for use in national and state legislatures. At the time, Robert was a resident of Haworth, New Jersey.^[3]

Bibliography

Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies ("Robert's Rules of Order"). Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Company. 1876.
Robert's Rules of Order Revised for Deliberative Assemblies. Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1915.
Parliamentary Practice: An Introduction to Parliamentary Law. New York: Century Co. 1921.
Parliamentary Law. New York: Century Co. 1923.

References

↑ Edson, Arthur (August 27, 1954). "Tribute Paid Man Who Wrote Rules of Order". Google News Archive Search. Daytona Beach Morning Journal (via the AP). Retrieved 2015-12-02.
↑ "Historical Vignette 038 - An Army Engineer Brought Order to Church Meetings". U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Office of History. November 2001. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
↑ Staff. "Copyright Notices", p. 164. The Publishers' Weekly, Volume 65, Part 1, January 30, 1904. Accessed December 4, 2014. "To wit: Be it remembered, That on the 2d day of January, 1904, Henry M. Robert of Haworth, N. J., hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the title of which is in the following words, to wit: Pocket Manual of Order for Deliberative Assemblies Part I of Order A compendium of Parliamentary law based upon the rules and practice of Congress."

Sources

This article contains public domain text from "Brigadier General Henry M. Robert". Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. Retrieved June 17, 2005.

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Henry M. Robert

ROBERT, Henry Martyn - The Handbook of Texas Online
Works by Henry Martyn Robert at Project Gutenberg

Robert's Rules of Order at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Henry Martyn Robert at Internet Archive
Works by Henry Martyn Robert at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Henry Martyn Robert at Find a Grave

Military offices
Preceded by John Moulder Wilson	Chief of Engineers 1901	Succeeded by John W. Barlow

Parliamentary procedure

Major concepts	History of parliamentary procedure Principles of parliamentary procedure Deliberative assembly Committee Session Quorum Chair Floor Recognition Motion Second Debate Main motion Order of business Minutes Voting methods in deliberative assemblies Majority Unanimous consent

Subsidiary motions	Postpone indefinitely Amend Commit Postpone to a certain time Limit or extend limits of debate Previous question Cloture Lay on the table

Privileged motions	Call for the orders of the day Raise a question of privilege Recess Adjourn Fix the time to which to adjourn

Incidental motions	Point of order Appeal Suspend the rules Objection to the consideration of a question Division of a question Consideration by paragraph or seriatim Division of the assembly Motions relating to methods of voting and the polls Motions relating to nominations Request to be excused from a duty Requests and inquiries (Parliamentary inquiry, Request for information, Request for permission to withdraw or modify a motion, Request to read papers, Request for any other privilege)

Motions that bring a question again before the assembly	Take from the table Rescind, repeal, annul or amend something previously adopted Discharge a committee Reconsider

Legislative procedures	Call of the house Hoist Motion to pass on Recall of Parliament

Disciplinary procedures	Censure Declare the chair vacant Impeach Naming

Parliamentary authorities	Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (TSC or Sturgis) Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure Riddick's Rules of Procedure Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice Bourinot's Rules of Order Beauchesne's Parliamentary Rules and Forms Morin code

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 79094470 LCCN: n50056905 ISNI: 0000 0001 1951 5002 GND: 1012140237 SUDOC: 082996067 BNF: cb12344104d (data) NLA: 35283677

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