From Tatters of the King

Superintendent of St Agnes Asylum. Very much the country gentleman in tweeds and brogues. A pipe-smoker. A man of science with a limited conversational range and no real interests outside his work. Member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society. He is unmarried.

Highsmith is one of the 3 men who signed Alexander Roby's commitment papers, and is the only one who seems keen to allow his release. He engages Dr Bartlett to consult on the matter and to make a recommendation either way.

He has coined the term 'Sympathetic Mania' to describe Roby's condition.