Artillery officer and writer on all aspects of gunnery. He served in Spain 1808–1809 and 1812 and provided Southey with information for his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). In return, Southey tried to arrange for Douglas’s Observations on the Motives, Errors and Tendency of M. Carnot’s System of Defence (1819) to be reviewed in the Quarterly Review. Douglas was later a General and Governor of New Brunswick 1823–1831, and High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 1835–1840.

A member of a family of Nonconformist cloth merchants and manufacturers from Gomersal, near Leeds, Herbert was orphaned in 1805. His relatives eventually recognized his academic talents and he was sent to Richmond Grammar School. Knowles was concerned that he did not have the funds to enter Cambridge University (and possibly that his family would not be prepared to support his ambition to study there). In October 1816 he sent one of his poems, ‘The Three Tabernacles’ (also known as ‘Lines written in the Churchyard of Richmond, Yorkshire’), to Southey, asking permission to dedicate it to him. The latter saw great promise, was moved by Knowles’s situation, and raised funds to help him take up a place at Cambridge. Knowles was elected a sizar at St John’s College on 31 January 1817, but died on 17 February 1817 and was buried at Heckmondwike Independent Chapel. In 1819 Southey included ‘Lines’ at the end of an article in the Quarterly Review, paying tribute to Knowles’s ‘extraordinary merits’ and ability to write with ‘such strength and originality upon the tritest of all subjects’ (Quarterly Review, 21 (April 1819), 396–398).

A poet and scholar who resided in Norwich and was a close friend of William Taylor’s. His collection of Poems (1792) influenced Southey’s own work.

A native of the Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds, she married Thomas Clarkson in 1796. She shared his radicalism and became close friends with the Wordsworths, Southey, Coleridge and Crabb Robinson. Owing to her illness, she was treated by Beddoes in Bristol in 1804 and 1805; she and her husband moved south to Suffolk from the Lake District for the sake of her health in 1806.

Postal administrator and book collector. A supporter of William Pitt (1759–1806; DNB), in the 1790s Freeling was involved in monitoring the activities of corresponding societies and supporters of the French revolution. A bibliophile, he was elected to the fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries in 1801. Southey and Freeling were both the sons of Bristol tradesmen. They corresponded over financial matters connected to Southey and Joseph Cottle’s 1803 edition of the works of their fellow Bristolian, Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770; DNB).

Doctor at Hendon and travel writer. With Paul Moon James he planned the idea of an edition of the works of the Bristol poet, William Isaac Roberts, which appeared in 1811. Southey was sympathetic to the project and agreed to promote the book amongst his friends and colleagues.

Clergyman, poet and historian. His brilliant career at the University of Oxford included winning the Newdigate Prize in 1812 and he was elected Professor of Poetry 1821–1831. He became a Fellow of Brasenose College in 1814 and was ordained in 1816. Milman’s ecclesiastical career was equally illustrious, despite controversies over his orthodoxy prompted by his History of the Jews (1830), and he became a Canon of Westminster Abbey in 1835 and Dean of St Paul’s in 1849. Milman contributed regularly to the Quarterly Review, had many friends in literary life and continued to enjoy as much prominence as a writer as he did as a cleric. His poetry included the epic, Samor, Lord of the Bright City (1818); in later life he concentrated on history, especially his History of Latin Christianity down to the Death of Pope Nicholas V (1855).

Chief Clerk of the Pells; father of Barré Charles Roberts. He was related to the Bedfords. Grosvenor Bedford published an edition of Barré Charles’s papers and a memoir in 1814. Southey corresponded with Edward Roberts at this time.

Philanthropist and independently minded conservative MP for Devonshire 1812–1818, 1820–1831 and North Devon 1837–1857. He was a devoted supporter of the Church of England and friendly with Wilberforce. Southey first met him in London in 1817 and admired Acland’s character and (usually) his political conduct.

Artist and caricaturist. He was the father of Southey’s schoolfriend from Westminster, Charles John Bunbury. In later life he settled in Keswick and from 1805 until his death became part of Southey’s social circle.

Nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was educated by his uncle George Coleridge, master of the grammar school at Ottery St Mary. This was followed by a glittering career at Oxford University. He used his prestige in the University to secure the scholarship, known as a Postmastership, that allowed Hartley Coleridge to attend Merton College, Oxford. William Hart Coleridge was a clergyman who later became Bishop of Barbados and the Leeward Islands 1824–1842.

American polymath and politician. Everett was appointed to a newly endowed Chair in Greek at Harvard in 1815. This permitted him to study and travel in Europe, which he did between 1815–1819, enrolling for part of this time at Göttingen University alongside his friend George Ticknor. In summer 1818 Everett visited the Lakes and called on Southey. The latter described him as ‘one of the most interesting men I have seen’. Everett returned to America in 1819 and became editor of the North American Review in the following year. He entered political life, serving as a Member of the House of Representatives 1824–1835, Governor of Massachusetts 1836–1840, Minister to the United Kingdom 1841–1845 and Secretary of State 1853–1854. He was a Vice–Presidential candidate in 1860 and was the speaker immediately before Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863.

Only son of Hugh Inglis, 1st Baronet (1744–1820; Hist P), Director of the East India Company and MP for Ashburton 1802–1806. Inglis was exceptionally well connected – Robert Peel was a friend from their days at Oxford University. He was also close to William Wilberforce; in 1815 he became the guardian of the nine orphaned children of their mutual friend, the banker and abolitionist Henry Thornton (1760–1815; DNB). Inglis was MP for Dundalk 1824–1826, Ripon 1828–1829, and Oxford University 1829–1854, but never held high office. Instead, he forged a reputation as a staunch defender of the Church of England and opponent of political reform. He became a correspondent of Southey’s in 1817, and the two first met in London in May of that year when Inglis introduced Southey to a number of leading politicians. Southey respected Inglis’s piety, philanthropy and commitment to the Established Church.

Younger sister of Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849; DNB). She married John King in 1802 and the couple had two daughters.

Shelley’s first wife. They eloped and married in 1811. They had two children, but Shelley left her in 1814. She committed suicide two years later.

One of the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’. Butler was an Anglo-Irish woman who, despite family disapproval, in 1780 set up house with Sarah Ponsonby at Plas Newydd, on the outskirts of Llangollen, North Wales. Their relationship fascinated contemporaries and has continued to attract speculation. Although the Ladies were famed for their lifestyle of retirement, simplicity and self-improvement, they received many guests – both admirers and tourists. Southey visited in 1811.

English antiquarian and Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum 1799–1811. Southey reviewed Douce’s Illustrations of Shakespeare and Ancient Manners (1807) and sent him some suggestions for further notes on obscure phrases in Shakespeare’s plays.

Politician. The son of Moreton Walhouse, he changed his name to Littleton in 1812 in order to comply with the terms of the will of his great uncle Sir Edward Littleton, the bulk of whose estates he inherited. He married Hyacinthe Mary (1789?–1849), the illegitimate daughter of Richard, 1st Marquess Wellesley. He was elected MP for Staffordshire in 1812, and supported Canning and Catholic emancipation. In 1835 he was created Baron Hatherton of Hatherton.

The only daughter of Herbert Hill and his wife Catherine.

The daughter of an unsuccessful banker, she married Landor on 24 May 1811. They lived firstly on Landor’s estate at Lanthony and then in Italy. The Landors had three sons and one daughter, but by the 1830s their marriage was troubled. Landor left his wife in 1835 and settled first in England and then Italy.

Army officer and writer. He served in the army of the East India Company, rising to the rank of Major. After retiring back to his home county of Suffolk due to ill health, he produced the Hindu Pantheon (1810), which for over fifty years was the only authoritative book in English on the subject, and thus widely consulted. Other publications included Hindu Infanticide: an Account of the Measures Adopted for Suppressing the Practice (1811), Oriental Fragments (1834), and Suffolk Words and Phrases (1823). He was a founding member of the Royal Asiatic Society and was elected to membership of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1796), the Royal Society (1806), and the Society of Antiquaries (1818). Moor was on good terms with Bernard Barton and Thomas Clarkson, both part of Southey’s extended circle. He corresponded with Southey in the late 1810s and early 1820s, offering him the use of the papers of his brother-in-law, Sir Augustus Simon Frazer (1776–1835; DNB), to help with Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

Writer. Born in Norwich, her father was the physician James Alderson (d. 1825). Brought up in progressive, Unitarian circles, she published poetry in the radical Norwich periodical, The Cabinet, in 1794. In 1798 she married the painter, John Opie (1761–1807; DNB) and moved to London, only returning to Norwich on his death in 1807. Opie contributed poems to Southey’s Annual Anthology (1799) and (1800) and became a prolific novelist after the success of Father and Daughter (1801). In 1825 she converted to Quakerism and devoted the rest of her life to charitable works.

One of the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’. A member of an Anglo-Irish family, in 1780 she set up home with Eleanor Butler at Plas Newydd on the outskirts of Llangollen, a major staging post on the route from England to Ireland. Their relationship intrigued their peers and has continued to attract speculation. Although Ponsonby and Butler lived a life of retirement, simplicity and self-improvement, they received many guests – both admirers and tourists. They were visited by Southey in 1811.

Southey’s younger sister.