Robert Nichol Brebner was born in Canada in 1865. He studied at the University of Toronto before attending Medical School at the Western University, London, Ontario. In the late 1890s, Robert emigrated to Scotland where he worked as a doctor at the Edinburgh Robertson Memorial Hospital.

Robert married Elizabeth Adamina Arras (known as Ada) on 14th June 1906 in Melrose, Scotland, and, by 1910, he was the joint medical officer of the Turner Memorial Hospital, Keith, and clinical assistant at the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary.

By 1912, Robert and Ada had moved to Suffolk with their two children and were living at Athenrye, on Cumberland Street, Woodbridge. In May that year, Robert became the medical officer of the Suffolk No.1 VAD. He was transferred to Foxborough Hall when it opened as a hospital in April 1915, retaining the position of medical officer until the hospital closed in 1919.