John Wingfield (c. 1757–1825): Under-Master at Westminster School 1788–1802.

Richard White (1771–1847): Partner in Blake, White and Ainger, solicitors of Essex Street, London, who handled the business affairs of Jacob Pleydell–Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor (1750–1828). White corresponded with Southey in 1826 when the Earl arranged Southey’s election (without his knowledge) for the pocket borough of Downton.

Robert Wilberforce (1802–1857): The second son of William Wilberforce and his wife Barbara. He was educated privately and then at Oriel College, Oxford, becoming a Fellow of the latter in 1826. However, he resigned his Fellowship in 1831 and took up a career in the Church of England, becoming Archdeacon of the East Riding in 1841. He was close to many of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1854. Wilberforce met Southey as a young man during family visits to the Lake District.

Simon Wilkin (1790–1862): Owner of a paper mill in Norwich, with wide interests, including entomology. Bankruptcy led him to establish a printing and publishing business in Norwich which produced the work of, among others, Amelia Opie and William Taylor. His most impressive project was his new edition of the life and works of Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682; DNB), which finally appeared in 1835–1836. Southey advised Wilkin on the early stages of this project and greatly admired Wilkin’s work.

Thomas Wilkinson (1751–1836): Cumbrian landscape gardener, who owned a small estate at Yanwath, south of Penrith, and advised William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, on improvements to his grounds. Wilkinson, a Quaker, was a friend of Thomas Clarkson and of Wordsworth. A keen fellwalker and a poet, Wilkinson published Tours to the British Mountains; with the Descriptive Poems of Lowther, and Emont Vale (1824).

Helen Maria Williams (1759–1827): Writer. She was the daughter of Charles Williams (d. 1762) and his second wife Helen Hay (1730–1812). Her early writings included Edwin and Eltruda (1782), Peru (1784) and Poems (1786); the latter elicited a tribute from William Wordsworth, his first publication (‘Sonnet on Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress’). She moved in the circles that included Anna Letitia Barbauld, William Godwin, Samuel Rogers and Anna Seward, and was a committed abolitionist.

John Neville White (1782–1845): Elder brother of Henry Kirke White. He was called by his second name, 'Neville'. Southey greatly admired him and the two men became regular correspondents. He initially trained as a medical student in London, but then became a hosiery merchant. In the latter capacity he was able to help Southey acquire books and newspapers from South America for his work on the Edinburgh Annual Register (1810–13) and the History of Brazil (1810–19).

Elijah Waring (c. 1788–1857): Writer. Born in Alton, Hampshire, he was the son of Jeremiah Waring. He moved to Wales in c. 1810, living in Swansea and then Neath. He established the short-lived English-language periodical The Cambrian Visitor: A Monthly Miscellany in 1813. In 1817 he married Deborah (c. 1786–1867), sister of the prominent Quaker ironmaster and philanthropist Joseph Tregelles Price (1784–1854; DNB). Waring himself later abandoned Quakerism and joined the Wesleyan Methodists.

Henry Kirke White (1785–1806): The son of a butcher in Nottingham, White was a studious boy who, after being articled to a lawyer, learned classical languages and, with help from Capel Lofft (1753–1824 ; DNB), patron of Robert Bloomfield, published Clifton Grove, a Sketch in Verse, with other Poems in 1803. The book was violently attacked in the Monthly Review (February 1804); Southey then wrote to White offering encouragement.

Alaric Alexander Watts (1797–1864): Journalist and poet. Born in London, he was the youngest son of John Mosley Watts and his wife Sarah. His parents separated when he was very young and a lengthy suit in Chancery followed. He was educated at Wye College Grammar School, Kent, and then at a school in Ashford. After that he held a variety of posts, including usher, private tutor, clerk and assistant teacher. By the late 1810s he was determined on a literary career and from January to June 1819 edited the New Monthly Magazine.