He was a native of Tirawley in north-east County Mayo and noted as having a more "respectable appearance and retinue than most travelling musicians."
Blindness in early life led him to the study of the harp, and being gifted in a musical sense, he made rapid progress."
Higgins was a friend of the harper Owen Keenan, who was imprisoned in Omagh for attempting to break into the house of a Mr. Stuart of Killmoon, near Cookstown, County Tyrone.
She fell an easy victim to their wiles, and the blind harpers contrived to steal the keys out of her pocket, oppressed as she was with love and music."
He was the Hugh Higgins, blind Native of Mayo age 75 years, who performed at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1791.