Edith May Southey (1804–1871): Southey’s oldest surviving child. She was a close friend of both her cousin, Sara Coleridge (1802–1852) and of Dora Wordsworth (1804–1847), who were of a similar age. Edith May was educated at Greta Hall by her father and aunts, Sarah Coleridge and Mary Lovell. She was a talented linguist – she learned Danish, for instance, alongside Southey - but was also practically-minded and as a young adult took an important role in organising the household and social events at Greta Hall. In 1823–1825 she spent nearly two years away from Keswick being introduced to London’s social life, a process she seems to have thoroughly enjoyed. During her time in London she also received tuition (paid for by Southey) from a professional artist. Despite constant hints from Southey about potential suitors, she did not become engaged until 1830, when the clergyman, John Wood Warter (1806–1878), an acquaintance of her cousin, Edward Hill, visited Keswick. Warter was chaplain at the British Embassy in Copenhagen 1830–1833 and the two did not marry until 15 January 1834 at Crosthwaite Church, Keswick. Edith May moved to Tarring in West Sussex, where Warter had just been appointed Vicar, and spent the rest of her life there. The couple had four surviving children. In the bitter family dispute that marred Southey’s later years, Edith May and Warter sided with Caroline Bowles. In 1824 Southey had advised his daughter to start keeping a commonplace book and this was later extended and published by Warter as Wise Saws and Modern Instances (1861).