Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (1796-1817): The only child of the union of George, then Prince of Wales, and Caroline of Brunswick (1768–1821; DNB). Her parents separated at her birth and Charlotte was thereafter often used in their ongoing battles. She married Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (1790–1865) on 2 May 1816. They established their home at Claremont, near Esher, Surrey. She died in the early hours of 6 November 1817 after delivering a stillborn son and was buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 November.

Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (1770–1844): Burdett was descended from a long line of Midlands landowners and inherited a Baronetcy from his grandfather, Sir Robert Burdett (1716–1797) in 1797. He acquired further wealth from his marriage to Sophia Coutts (1775–1844), a banking heiress, in 1793. Burdett first entered Parliament in 1796 and was MP for Boroughbridge 1796–1802, Middlesex 1802–1804 and 1805–1806, Westminster 1807–1837 and Wiltshire North 1837–1844. He soon gained fame as an opponent of the war with France, a supporter of Radicals and an advocate of universal suffrage.

(Samuel) Egerton Brydges, 1st Baronet (1762-1837): Poet, editor and bibliographer who issued neglected literary works from his private press. Brydges compiled ‘Censura literaria’, containing titles, abstracts, and opinions of old English books, with original disquisitions, articles of biography, and other literary antiquities (1805–1809). Southey, who shared his interest in English literary history, initiated a correspondence with Brydges in 1807.

Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868): The son of a Westmorland squire, Brougham grew up in Edinburgh and became one of the principal contributors to the Edinburgh Review. Brougham’s radical Whig opinions, expressed in the Edinburgh, provoked Scott and others into founding the Quarterly Review, for which Southey wrote scores of articles.

Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787-1871): Philanthropist and independently minded conservative MP for Devonshire 1812–1818, 1820–1831 and North Devon 1837–1857. He was a devoted supporter of the Church of England and friendly with Wilberforce. Southey first met him in London in 1817 and admired Acland’s character and (usually) his political conduct.

Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester (1757-1829): The Speaker of the House of Commons 1802–1817. He was responsible for the legislation that led to the first census in 1801. Through their mutual interest in statistics, he became Rickman’s patron and was responsible for appointing Rickman Secretary to The Speaker in 1802. Southey called him ‘Emperor of the Franks’ because he was able to take advantage, through Rickman, of Abbot’s privilege of franking mail for free.