Anthony Highmore (1758–1829) was an English legal writer, known also for works on London charities and the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

Life

The son of

Anthony Highmore Anthony Highmore (1719–1799) was an English draughtsman. Life He was the only son of Joseph Highmore, known for five views of Hampton Court, engraved by John Tinney. He was deaf, and resided mostly at Canterbury, where he studied theology. H ...

, he was born in London in 1768. In 1766 he was sent to school under

Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. He went into practice as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in 1783. Highmore was an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and friend of

Granville Sharp Granville Sharp (10 November 1735 – 6 July 1813) was one of the first British campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade. He also involved himself in trying to correct other social injustices. Sharp formulated the plan to settle black ...

. He also promoted

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...

's act on the law of

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

alarm created by threatened invasion, Highmore became a member of the Honourable Artillery Company. The secretary to the London Lying-in Hospital, he advocated for the

public dispensary A public dispensary, charitable dispensary or free dispensary gives advice and medicines free-of-charge, or for a small charge. Provident dispensary In the 19th and early 20th centuries a provident dispensary was a clinic offering medical care ...

movement as more cost-effective than hospitals. Highmore died at

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

19 July 1829.

Works

In 1808 a bill was brought before parliament to prevent the spread of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. No medical practitioner was to

inoculate Inoculation is the act of implanting a pathogen or other microorganism. It may refer to methods of artificially inducing immunity against various infectious diseases, or it may be used to describe the spreading of disease, as in "self-inoculati ...

for the smallpox within three miles of any town, and provisions were made for isolating smallpox patients. Highmore, though a believer in the alternative of

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

, 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 Charles Murray may refer to: Politicians *Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore (1661–1710), British peer *Charles Murray (author and diplomat) (1806–1895), British author and diplomat *Charles Murray, 7th Earl of Dunmore (1841–1907), Scotti ...

replied in the same year in ''An Answer to Mr. Highmore's Objections''. Besides contributing to the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'', Highmore also wrote: * ''A Digest of the Doctrine of Bail in Civil and Criminal Cases; compiled from the various Authorities and Reports of Cases adjudged'', &c., 1783. * ''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. * ''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. * ''Addenda to the Law of Charitable Uses'', 1793. * ''A Practical Arrangement of the Laws relative to the Excise'', 2 vols., 1796. * ''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

* ''A Treatise on the Law of Idiotcy and Lunacy'', 1807; American edit., 1822. * ''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. * ''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. * ''Pietas Londinensis: the History, Design, and Present State of the various Public Charities in and near London'', 1810. * ''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. * ''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. * ''Philanthropia Metropolitana: a View of the Charitable Institutions established in and near London chiefly during the last twelve years'', 1822. In 1876 ''A Ramble on the Coast of Sussex in 1782'' was edited by Charles Hindley from a manuscript of Highmore.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Highmore, Anthony 1758 births 1829 deaths 18th-century English writers English lawyers British abolitionists