Robert succeeded his uncle, John Barry, as vicar of Dundee in 1546. He remained in this post until his death, in Dundee, some time between 1555 and 1560. With Isobel Lovell he had two illegitimate sons, David and Robert, who were declared legitimate in 1552–3. Isobel Lovell married David Cant in 1560 and had died by 1587. It has been suggested that Robert Wedderburn was the author of The Complaynt of Scotland (1549), and, although that work's positive attitudes towards the established church made it seem unlikely to some that the ascription was accurate, the editor of the 1979 Scottish Text Society edition of the work and the National Library of Scotland support the Wedderburn attribution.
