Robert Hammond Small was born in England in January 1795 or 1796. He immigrated to the United States, joined the Old Guard State Fencibles (a militia based in Philadelphia), and served during the War of 1812. Small then worked in Philadelphia as a publisher, with a specialty in law books. He married Jane Lydia Mallet-Prevost (1807–65) in 1829; their son Robert Jr. would inherit the family business. Small died on 11 September 1883.