William Blackwood (1776-1834): Edinburgh-based publisher whose firm, William Blackwood and Sons, became the leading Scottish publisher of the 1820s and 1830s. Blackwood’s career started in the antiquarian bookselling business, but gradually moved into publishing. His appointment, in 1811, as Edinburgh agent for John Murray gave him excellent links to the English book trade and English authors. In 1817 he founded a new Tory periodical – the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine.

Robert Bill (c. 1790–1823): The elder son of John Bill (d. 1847), a surgeon to the Manchester Infirmary who inherited the Farley estate, near Alton, Staffordshire. Robert Bill was educated at Macclesfield School (now the King’s School, Macclesfield), whose headmaster was Dr David Davies (1755–1828). Bill matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, in 1807 graduating BA 1810 and MA 1814. He pursued a career as a barrister. In 1820 he married Louisa Dauncey, the daughter of Philip Dauncey K.C. (d.

Willem Bilderdijk (1756-1831): Dutch lawyer, poet, teacher, arch-conservative and a central figure in the intellectual life of the Netherlands in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. He greatly admired Southey’s poetry and his second wife, Katharina Schweickhardt (1776–1830), translated Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814) into Dutch in 1823–1824. When Southey visited the Netherlands in 1825 he was taken ill and the Bilderdijks nursed him at their home in Leiden.

Nathaniel Biggs (d. 1832): Printer and stationer in Bristol. He printed books, including works by Beddoes, Coleridge, Estlin and Southey, for congeries of publishers in London and the South-West of England. In the mid-late 1790s, he entered into a business partnership with Joseph Cottle, printing the Bristol edition of Coleridge and Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (1798), and the revised editions of 1800 and 1802.

Charles Biddlecombe (dates unknown): Neighbour and friend. Biddlecombe met Southey in summer 1797 when the latter moved to the village of Burton in Hampshire. Southey described him as ‘rich enough to buy books, and very friendly, all that a neighbour should be’. Biddlecombe married in 1798, but his wife died in childbirth in March 1799, leaving him with an infant daughter.

John Laurens Bicknell (c. 1786-1845): Solicitor, author, Fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He was the son of John Bicknell (1746–1787), a barrister, and his wife Sabrina (1756/7–1843; DNB). Bicknell’s father was an associate of Thomas Day (1748–1789; DNB), with whom he co-wrote The Dying Negro (1773). Sabrina Bicknell’s association with Day was rather different. She was the subject of his failed attempt to educate a wife by applying the theories of Rousseau.

(Mary) Matilda Betham (1776-1852): Writer and painter of miniatures. Her poetry was admired by Coleridge, who penned the complimentary ‘To Matilda Betham, from a Stranger’. Betham published Elegies (1797) and Poems (1808); Southey advised her about her poetry and sat to her for his portrait in 1808, as Coleridge also did. In 1809 Betham visited Greta Hall and painted Southey’s wife and children. Owing to the unconventionality of her conduct Betham’s family confined her in an asylum in 1819.

John Bell (1784-1864): Bookseller and antiquary. He was born and lived in Newcastle, where from 1803-1817 he ran a booksellers shop on Quayside. He was the founder of a short-lived numismatic society. In 1813 he was involved in the founding of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne, serving as its Treasurer until his bankruptcy. Southey corresponded with him in 1814 about Morris dancing.

Christopher Benson (1788-1868): A native of Cockermouth, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1809) and became a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1820, the first Hulsean Lecturer 1820–1822 and later Canon of Worcester Cathedral 1825–1868. Benson was a noted public speaker and Southey heard him preach during his 1820 visit to Cambridge. From this time they corresponded occasionally.

John Bell (c. 1747-1819): Prominent English merchant in Lisbon, admitted to the British Factory in 1774. Southey came to know him well during his visit to Portugal in 1800–1801. He appreciated Bell’s wide knowledge of the country and benefitted from his connections to Portuguese intellectual life. Bell’s special interest was numismatics.