Robert Hogg was born sometime before 1728 in East Lothian, Scotland and immigrated to North Carolina in either 1739 or 1756. Hogg worked as a merchant in Wilmington, North Carolina. He served as town commissioner in 1770 and on the Wilmington Committee of Safety from 1774 to 1775. However, in 1775  he became disillusioned in the Revolutionary Cause and left the colonies for England. He returned to North Carolina in 1778 because of the passing of the confiscation act. Hogg died July 7, 1780 in Hillsborough, North Carolina.