Born in Aberdeen, he was editor of the London Literary Gazette before emigrating to New York before 1831, from whence he corresponded with the Cowden Clarkes; Mary Cowden Clarke's letters to him were published in 1902 as Letters to an Enthusiast.

REFERENCES TO Robert Balmanno:

Douglas Jerrold to Mary Cowden Clarke, 19 October 1849 in Recollections of Writers (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1878)