John Marten Butt (1774-1846): Clergyman and author. Only son of George and Mary Martha Butt and brother of Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851; DNB), author of The Fairchild Family. Educated Westminster (adm. 1788) and Christ Church, Oxford (matric. 1792, BA 1796, MA 1799). Curate of Witley, Worcestershire; Rector of Oddingley, Worcestershire from 1806 and Vicar of East Garston, Berkshire from 1806. Author of The Last Vision of Daniel (1808) and other works. His first wife was Mary Ann Congreve; his second, Jemima Hubbal.

Eleanor Charlotte Butler (1739-1829): 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.

Charles Butler (1750-1832): Leading Catholic layman, lawyer and writer, especially on legal matters. In 1791 he became the first Catholic called to the Bar since the Revolution of 1688; he was closely involved in attempts to secure Catholic Emancipation from parliament. Southey met him in 1811 and found him ‘thoroughly amiable’. However, he replied to Southey’s Book of the Church (1824) with a defence of Catholicism, The Book of the Catholic Church (1825). This in turn provoked Southey’s Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae (1826).

Hans Busk (1772-1862): Poet, scholar, Radnorshire landowner and Justice of the Peace. In his youth he had spent time in Russia as a member of the chevalier guard of Catherine II, the Great (1729–1796; Empress of Russia 1762–1796). He published several collections of light verse, and in 1819 sent a copy of one of these – The Banquet, in Three Cantos – to Southey.

James Burney (1750-1821): Naval officer and writer, second son of the music historian Dr Charles Burney (1726–1814; DNB) and brother of Charles (1757–1817; DNB) and Frances (Fanny; 1752–1840; DNB). He was nicknamed the ‘Capitaneus’ by Southey. He was sent to sea at the age of 10. In 1772 he sailed in the Resolution on James Cook’s (1728–1779; DNB) second voyage to the South Seas and on his return home in 1774 acted as an interpreter for Omai, the first Tahitean to visit Britain. Burney sailed on Cook’s third voyage and witnessed the latter’s death in 1779.

George Burnett (c. 1776-1811): Writer. The son of John Burnett, a farmer, of Huntspill, Somerset. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford (matric. 1793).

Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811): 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.

Henry Edward Bunbury, 7th Baronet (1778-1860): Army officer, uncle of Southey’s schoolfriend, Charles John Bunbury, and member of Southey’s circle in the Lake District. Bunbury was Under–Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1809–1816 and provided Southey with information for his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

Charles John Bunbury (1772-1798): Soldier. Educated at Westminster School, where he was a friend of Southey’s, and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1789, Bunbury presented Southey with a copy of Thomas Warton’s Poems (3rd edn, 1779). Their friendship did not last. In 1793, Bunbury tried to avoid Southey when the latter was visiting Cambridge. Southey, in turn, claimed that Bunbury’s ‘debauchery’ was the direct result of his public school education. Bunbury joined the army and died at the Cape of Good Hope.

Antoine André Bruguière, Baron de Sorsum (1773-1823): French author and translator, who had served as secretary to Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860), when the latter was King of Westphalia (1807–1813). He produced translations of works by Byron, Sir William Jones, James Macpherson, and Shakespeare. In 1821 he translated Southey’s Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814) into French.