Southey’s sister-in-law. The eldest surviving child of Stephen Fricker and Martha Rowles. Sarah and Southey were childhood friends and it was through her that Southey met Robert Lovell in late 1793. Sarah married Samuel Taylor Coleridge on 4 October 1795. Her relationship with Southey, who provided her with advice and support during her later marital difficulties, was affectionate, and at times jokey and rumbustious. Indeed, Sarah’s daughter and namesake recorded that Southey had been romantically interested in Sarah Fricker first, only later turning his attentions to her sister Edith.