Sir Robert succeeded his brother, Sir Foster Hugh Egerton Cunliffe, as Baronet after the latter was killed in action in 1916. They were the sons of Sir Robert Alfred Cunliffe, 5th Bt. and a Member of Parliament, and his first wife, Eleanor Sophia Egerton Leigh (daughter of Col. Egerton Leigh, Member of Parliament). The younger Robert was educated at Rugby adn Hertford College, Oxford. He served as sometime Temporary Lieutenant General List. He died unmarried and was thus succeeded by his kinsman (his cousin's son), Sir Cyril Henry Cunliffe, as 8th Bt.