Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Highmore, Anthony
HIGHMORE, ANTHONY (1758–1829), legal writer, son of Anthony Highmore [see under Highmore Joseph], draughtsman, and grandson of Joseph Highmore [q. v.] the painter, was born in London in 1768. In 1766 he was sent to school under Dr. Burney at Greenwich, and commenced practice as a solo- icitor in 1783. Highmore was an intimate friend of Granville Sharp [q. v.], and was active in opposition to the slave trade. He also took part in promoting the change brought about by Fox's act on the law of libel. During the alarm created by the threatened invasion he became a member of the Honourable Artillery Company. In 1808 a bill was brought before parliament ‘to prevent the spreading of the infection of the small-pox.’ No medical practitioner was to inoculate for the small-pox within three miles of any town, and provisions were made for isolating small-pox patients. Highmore, though a believer in vaccination, opposed this bill in ‘A Statement of some Objections to the Bill as amended by the Committee of the House of Commons to Prevent the Spreading of the Infection of the Small-Pox,’ 1808. Charles Murray replied in the same year in ‘An Answer to Mr. Highmore's Objections.’ Highmore was secretary to the London Lying-in Hospital. He died at Dulwich 19 July 1829.
Besides a number of contributions to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ Highmore also wrote: 1. ‘A Digest of the Doctrine of Bail in Civil and Criminal Cases; compiled from the various Authorities and Reports of Cases adjudged,’ &c., 1783. 2. ‘A Succinct View of the History of Mortmain and the Statutes relative to Charitable Uses; with a full Exposition of the late Statute of Mortmain, 9 George II, c. 36, and its subsequent Alterations,’ 1787; 2nd edition, enlarged, 1809. 3. ‘Reflections on the distinction usually adopted in Criminal Prosecutions for Libel, and on the method lately introduced of pronouncing Verdicts in consequence of such distinction,’ 1791. 4. ‘Addenda to the Law of Charitable Uses,’ 1793. 5. ‘A Practical Arrangement of the Laws relative to the Excise,’ 2 vols., 1796. 6. ‘The History of the Honourable Artillery Company of the City of London from its earliest Annals to the Peace of 1802,’ 1804; written at the suggestion of the court of assistants. 7. ‘A Treatise on the Law of Idiotcy and Lunacy,’ 1807; American edit., 1822. 8. ‘Statement of some Objections,’ &c., 1808 (see above). 9. ‘A Letter to William Wilberforce, Esq., M.P., relative to the second Bill introduced by him to the House of Commons … for Registering Charitable Donations,’ &c., 1810. 10. ‘Observations on the Amended Bill now depending in the House of Commons “For the Registering and securing of Charitable Donations for the benefit of poor persons in England,”’ 1810. 11. ‘Pietas Londinensis: the History, Design, and Present State of the various Public Charities in and near London,’ 1810. 12. ‘The Attorneys and Solicitors' new Pocket-Book and Conveyancers' Assistant, by F. C. Jones … Third edition, with corrections and additional modern precedents, by Anthony Highmore,’ 1814, 12mo. 13. ‘An Arrangement of the Accounts necessary to be kept by Executors of Wills and Codicils and Administrators of Intestates' Estates. To which are prefixed Tables of the New Duties on Probates and Administrations,’ 1815; 2nd edit., enlarged, 1821. 14. ‘Philanthropia Metropolitana: a View of the Charitable Institutions established in and near London chiefly during the last twelve years,’ 1822. In 1876 an account of ‘A Ramble on the Coast of Sussex in 1782’ was edited by C. Hindley from a manuscript of Highmore.
[Gent. Mag. 1829, ii. 180 et seq.; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816; Brit. Mus. Cat.]