Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850): Scottish, Whig lawyer and critic, from 1803 editor of the Edinburgh Review and, as such, Southey’s bête noire for damning reviews of his, Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s poetry (Jeffrey is credited with identifying them as a school or sect of poets; see Edinburgh Review, 1 (October 1802), 63–83). Southey affected indifference but was acutely sensitive to Jeffrey’s reviews.

Robert Harry Inglis, 2nd Baronet (1786–1855): Only son of Hugh Inglis, 1st Baronet (1744–1820; Hist P), Director of the East India Company and MP for Ashburton 1802–1806. Inglis was exceptionally well connected – Robert Peel was a friend from their days at Oxford University. He was also close to William Wilberforce; in 1815 he became the guardian of the nine orphaned children of their mutual friend, the banker and abolitionist Henry Thornton (1760–1815; DNB). Inglis was MP for Dundalk 1824–1826, Ripon 1828–1829, and Oxford University 1829–1854, but never held high office.

John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield (1735–1821): Politician, close friend and executor of Edward Gibbon (1737–1794; DNB). He was an MP for Coventry, 1780–1784, and Bristol, 1790–1802. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Sheffield in 1802, and obtained an earldom in 1816. Southey corresponded with him in 1817–1818, when Sheffield offered Southey sight of the papers of his son-in-law, General Sir Henry Clinton (1771–1829; DNB), to help with his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford (1743–1822): Lord Chamberlain 1812–1821, and as such, a key figure in the appointment of Southey as Poet Laureate in 1813.

John Charles Herries (1778–1855): Started his life in office in 1798 as a junior, but well-connected, civil servant at the Treasury. He played an important part in the British war effort as Commissary-in-Chief 1811–1816, and later moved into politics as Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1823–1827, and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1827–1828. Southey knew him through Grosvenor Bedford and Herries proved helpful with franking Southey’s correspondence.

William Heathcote, 5th Baronet (1801–1881): Landowner and politician. He was the only son of William Heathcote (1772–1802), Rector of Worting, and Elizabeth (1773–1855), a daughter of Lovelace Bigg-Wither (1741–1813) – he was thus a nephew of Herbert Hill’s wife. Heathcote was educated at Winchester College and then at Oriel College, Oxford, where he was taught by John Keble (1792–1866; DNB) and struck up a friendship with John Taylor Coleridge.

Edward John Littleton (formerly Walhouse; 1791–1863), Lord Hatherton: Politician. The son of Moreton Walhouse, he changed his name to Littleton in 1812 in order to comply with the terms of the will of his great uncle Sir Edward Littleton, the bulk of whose estates he inherited. He married Hyacinthe Mary (1789?–1849), the illegitimate daughter of Richard, 1st Marquess Wellesley. He was elected MP for Staffordshire in 1812, and supported Canning and Catholic emancipation. In 1835 he was created Baron Hatherton of Hatherton.

Elton Hamond (1786–1820): Businessman, writer and suicide. The son of a wealthy London tea merchant, he was a cousin of Stamford Raffles (1781–1826; DNB), colonial administrator and founder of Singapore. One of Hamond’s sisters lived for a time in the household of Anna Laetitia Barbauld. Hamond’s business failed in 1813. He committed suicide by shooting himself through the head on 1 January 1820. He had, he explained in a p left for the coroner, been planning his death for seven years.

William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (1759–1834): Foreign Secretary 1791–1801, Prime Minister 1806–1807. Grenville was the uncle of Southey’s friend and patron Charles Watkin Williams Wynn.

Mary Gonne (1768-1825): Daughter of Robert and Mary Harding, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and wife of William Gonne, whom she married in 1790. She was the godmother of Edith May Southey and the mother of Henry Herbert Southey’s second wife, Louisa Gonne. Southey greatly admired her.