James Hogg (1770–1835): A shepherd by upbringing, Hogg taught himself to read and write and became an admirer of the verse of Burns. Scott employed him to help compile his collection of ballads, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Hogg published a collection of poems, The Mountain Bard, in 1807, and another, The Forest Minstrel, in 1810. A fringe member of the Edinburgh literary set, Hogg communicated news of forthcoming critical reviews to Southey, and was himself featured, mockingly, in Blackwoods Magazine.

Edward Hogg (1783–1848): Doctor at Hendon and travel writer. With Paul Moon James he planned the idea of an edition of the works of the Bristol poet, William Isaac Roberts, which appeared in 1811. Southey was sympathetic to the project and agreed to promote the book amongst his friends and colleagues.

Septimus Hodson (1768–1833): Born in Huntingdon, the son of Robert Hodson (d. 1803), Rector of Huntingdon. Educated at Caius College, Cambridge 1779–1784, he was ordained in 1787 and was perpetual curate of Little Raveley 1787–1833 and Rector of Thrapston 1789–1828; he was appointed chaplain-in-ordinary to George IV in 1788 and chaplain of the Orphan Asylum in Lambeth in 1789. He was dismissed from the latter two posts in 1797 when it became known that he had assaulted a thirteen-year-old child at the Asylum. He married Margaret Hodson as his fourth wife in 1826.

Margaret Hodson (née Holford; c. 1778–1852): Poet and translator. Born in Chester, she was the eldest daughter of Allen Holford (c. 1755–1788) and his wife Margaret (c. 1761–1834), a poet, playwright and Minerva Press novelist. Margaret Hodson married, as his fourth wife, the Anglican clergyman, Septimus Hodson in 1826. She wrote prolifically as a child and published her first work, the anonymous metrical romance Wallace, or, The Fight of Falkirk, in 1809.

Thomas Hill (1760–1840): Book-collector and part-proprietor of the Monthly Mirror. Born in Lancaster in May 1760, he went at an early age to London, where for many years he carried on an extensive business as a drysalter at Queenhithe. He patronized Robert Bloomfield, whose The Farmer’s Boy he read in manuscript and recommended to a publisher. In his role as part-owner of the Monthly Mirror he befriended one of its contributors, the youthful Henry Kirke White. Southey believed that Hill owned probably ‘the best existing collection of English poetry’.

Robert Southey Hill (1817–1872): The youngest child of Herbert Hill and his wife Catherine; he was named after his first cousin Robert Southey. In later life he became a doctor and botanist.

Margaret (known as ‘Peggy’ and, occasionally, ‘Margery’) Hill (d. 1801): Southey’s cousin, probably the daughter of his mother’s brother Joseph Hill.

Herbert Hill, Junior, (1810–1892): Second son of Herbert and Catherine Hill. Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow in 1832 and Sub-Librarian of the Bodleian Library in 1837–1838. He taught at Rugby School 1836–1839. In 1838 he was ordained and moved to the Lake District, where he was Curate at Rydal and also took on individual pupils. He married his cousin, Southey’s daughter Bertha, in 1839 and later moved to the Midlands, where he was Headmaster of King’s School, Warwick, 1843–1876.

Herbert Hill (c. 1749–1828): Southey’s maternal uncle. Hill was the product of a second marriage, and after his father’s death was left short of money (even having to ‘pay his own school bills when it was in his power’) and on extremely bad terms with his older half-brother. Hill was educated at Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1772, MA 1774). From 1782–1807, he was chaplain to the British factory at Lisbon. Hill took a paternal interest in his nephews, and helped finance Southey’s education.

Georgiana Hill (1816–1873): The only daughter of Herbert Hill and his wife Catherine.