William Gilbert (1763–1824): Poet and astrologer. Born in Antigua, son of Nathaniel Gilbert, speaker of the Antiguan House of Assembly. In 1788 he came to England to work as a lawyer, but suffered a mental collapse and was placed in an asylum run by Richard Henderson (1736/7–1792) at Hanham near Bristol. (In an earlier career as a schoolmaster, Henderson had numbered Joseph Cottle among his pupils.) Gilbert was released after a year and went to London, where he worked as an astrologer and maker of magic talismans.

William Gifford (1756–1826): Long known to Southey as a Tory critic and editor of the Anti-Jacobin, Gifford became the first editor in 1809 of a new conservative journal begun on Southey’s advice – the Quarterly Review. Gifford then approached Southey through their mutual friend Grosvenor Charles Bedford to be a contributor. Gifford continued as editor until 1824, frequently the target of Southey’s ire over the cuts and interpolations he made to Southey’s contributions.

John Gibson (c. 1794–1860): Tea dealer, based in the port of Whitehaven, Cumbria, where he was deputy postmaster 1837–1860. He was a keen collector of autographs, books and prints and corresponded with Southey in the 1820s.

George IV (1762–1830): Prince Regent 1811–1820; King of the United Kingdom 1820–1830. Southey met him at a Court levee on 11 November 1813 following his installation as Poet Laureate and gave him what little praise he felt he could in one of his Congratulatory Odes (1814). George IV made only fleeting appearances in the rest of Southey’s Laureate verses and Southey did not commemorate either his Coronation or his death.

Richard Garnett (1789–1850): Philologist, clergyman, author and librarian, born at Otley, Yorkshire, the son of a paper manufacturer. His early extraordinary facility with languages convinced him he had no wish to enter his father’s business and he became a schoolmaster in 1811, before being ordained in 1813. Garnett was curate of Blackburn and assistant-master of the grammar school 1818–1826, then held a number of other preferments until he became assistant keeper of printed books at the British Museum in 1838.

Sarah (Sara) Fricker (1770–1845): 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. Southey may well have been romantically interested in Sarah, before he became engaged to her sister, Edith Fricker, in 1794. Sarah met Samuel Taylor Coleridge through Southey and the two married on 4 October 1795. They had three surviving children – Hartley, Derwent and Sara.

Mary Fricker (1771–1862): Southey’s sister-in-law. The second surviving child of Stephen Fricker and Martha Rowles. In the early 1790s she worked as an actress in Bath and Bristol theatres. She married Robert Lovell in January 1794, in spite of the disapproval of his family. Their son, also called Robert, was born in 1795. After Lovell’s death in 1796, Southey tried to persuade his family to provide for his widow and child. He was only partially successful.

Martha Fricker (1777–1850): Southey’s sister-in-law. She never married and spent her final years on the Isle of Man, with her sister Eliza.

George Fricker (1785–1813): Southey’s only brother-in-law. Southey was intermittently successful in gaining him employment, at a bank in Bristol in 1800 and on one of Rickman’s statistical projects in 1804. Though Southey respected George’s good qualities, he was frustrated by his ‘uncommon dullness’, and bemused by his Methodist enthusiasm. He died at Greta Hall after a long illness.

Fricker family: Stephen Fricker (1738–1786) and his second wife Martha Rowles (1750–1809) and their six surviving children: Sarah, Mary, Edith, Martha (b. 1777), Eliza (b. 1778) and George (b. 1785). The failure of his business speculations (including the manufacture of sugar pans) contributed to Stephen Fricker’s early death and to a sharp decline in the fortunes of his family.