Henry Joseph Monck Mason (1778–1858): Legal writer, antiquary and member of the Royal Irish Academy. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he struck up a lifelong friendship with Thomas Moore (1779–1852; DNB). He was called to the Irish Bar in 1800, but never practised, instead holding posts as examiner to the prerogative courts and as Assistant, later Chief, Librarian of the King’s Inns, Dublin. His charitable and educational activities were numerous and included playing an important part in the Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in Ireland.

John Marshall (1765–1845): Wealthy businessman, who developed factory-based flax-spinning in Leeds. He was a close friend of William Wordsworth through his wife Jane Pollard (1770–1847), who had been at school in Halifax with Dorothy Wordsworth. He visited the Lake District regularly following his marriage in 1795, built a country home at Hallsteads on the shores of Ullswater in 1815 and was Sheriff of Cumberland in 1821. Later, in 1832, he bought the Derwentwater Estates. Southey wrote to him in 1827 to inform him that Derwentwater was covered in flies.

James Heywood Markland (1788–1864): Antiquary. Born in Manchester, in 1808 he moved to London to practise law. He married Charlotte (d. 1867), daughter of Sir Francis Freeling, in 1821. Markland was a committed Anglican, collector of fine editions, and writer on literary history, and on antiquarian and religious subjects. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, member of the Roxburghe Club, and, after retiring to Bath in 1841, an active member of the Royal Archaeological Institute and the British Archaeological Association.

Catherine Malone (c. 1749–1831): Unmarried sister of Lord Sunderlin. Southey got to know the family well when they visited the Lakes in 1812–1813.

Arthur Malkin (1803–1888): Civil engineer, writer and alpinist. Son of Benjamin Heath Malkin (1769–1842; DNB), headmaster of the grammar school at Bury St Edmunds 1809–1828. He visited Southey in 1824. His connection to Southey was probably through Susannah Henry, William Peachy’s second wife, whose mother lived in Bury St Edmunds.

George Martin Maber (d. 1844): Clergyman. Educated at St Paul’s School, London and then at Cambridge. He was personal chaplain to Lord Bute and from 1795 Rector of Merthyr Tydfil. Maber and Southey met during a voyage to Portugal in November 1795.

Robert Lundie (1774–1832): Educated at the University of Edinburgh. He married Mary Grey on 27 April 1813 and was Minister of Kelso. He worked with John and James Ballantyne on the Edinburgh Annual Register, producing the yearly ‘Chronicle’ from late 1810. He was one of the financial guarantors of their co-partnership, along with Walter Scott.

William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1757–1844): From 1802, when he inherited vast estates in Cumberland and Westmoreland, one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the country. A Tory, Lowther became the patron of Wordsworth, arranging for him to be given the government post of Distributor of Stamps. Southey and Lowther were on good terms, and Southey made several visits to Lowther castle.

Augusta Lowther, Countess of Lonsdale (1761–1838): Born Lady Augusta Fane, daughter of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland (1728–1774). In 1781 she married William Lowther, who became 1st Earl of Lonsdale in 1807; the couple had six children.

Robert Lovell, Junior (1795–1836): The son of Mary and Robert Lovell, his father’s early death left him with few prospects (significantly less than those of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s children, whose paternal relations were capable of greater generosity). In 1803 the money paid by the Lovell family for his education ceased. Southey and John May tried to get Robert Lovell Junior into Christ’s Hospital. They failed. The boy was apprenticed to a London printer and effectively separated from his mother, who lived with the Southeys in Keswick.