Percy Bysshe Shelley: (1792–1822): Eldest son of the wealthy Sussex landowner, baronet and MP, Sir Timothy Shelley (1753–1844). He became a published poet and novelist while still at Eton and was expelled from University College, Oxford, in March 1811 for writing The Necessity of Atheism (1811). In August 1811 he eloped with, and married, Harriet Westbrook (1795–1816), causing a temporary breakdown in relations with his family.

William Hawkes Smith (1786–1840): Author, draughtsman and lithographic printmaker from Birmingham. He was a Unitarian and supporter of a variety of radical causes, and in 1818 sent Southey his proposed set of illustrations for Thalaba the Destroyer (1801). Southey agreed to try and promote the work, and endeavoured to persuade his friends to subscribe to the publication of Smith’s work, which Longman brought out later in 1818.

Maria Woodruffe Smith (1795–1854): Younger daughter of Grosvenor Bedford’s friend, Thomas Woodruffe Smith. She visited Keswick in 1826, at the time when her permanent address was in Acre Lane, Clapham. Southey wrote to her afterwards with news of himself and events in Keswick. In 1833 Maria Woodruffe Smith married George Head Head (1795–1876), a Quaker banker and active abolitionist, of Rickerby Hall, Carlisle.

Thomas Woodruffe Smith (c. 1747–1811): A wealthy Quaker merchant who lived at Stockwell Park, Surrey, with his second wife, Anne Reynolds (dates unknown) of Carshalton. The Smiths were friends of Grosvenor Charles Bedford and Duppa.

Thomas Smith (c. 1770–1822): Country gentleman and JP, of Unitarian and liberal views and literary and scientific interests. He was born in Cirencester, and later owned estates at Bownham House, near Minchinhampton, Gloucestshire and at Easton Grey, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire. He trained as a barrister but a speech impediment meant that he never practiced. He was known as the ‘Macenas of his neighbourhood’ for his patronage of men of letters and his philanthropy.

Bertha Southey (1809–1877): Fifth child of Robert and Edith Southey. She was educated at Greta Hall by her father and her aunts, Sarah Coleridge and Mary Lovell. Bertha was persistently described by Southey as the shyest of his children and spent a year in 1824–1825 and again in 1830–1831 with John Rickman and his family in order to meet a wider social circle. When her mother became ill in the mid-1830s Bertha shared Edith Southey’s care with her sister, Kate.

William Sotheby (1757–1833): Poet and translator. Born into a wealthy family, Sotheby served in the army before devoting himself to literature in 1780. He had many close friends in the literary world, including Joanna Baillie, and unobtrusively helped a number of authors who were in financial trouble. Sotheby’s poetry had little success and he was best known for his translation of Oberon (1798). Southey was first introduced to him in 1802, finding Sotheby ‘a man of taste & much original thought’, though he valued his criticism above his poetry.

Samuel Simpson (1802–1881): An inveterate autograph hunter, Simpson wrote to Southey in 1821 and 1826, asking for Southey’s autograph. On both occasions Southey declined, sending Simpson humorous poems instead. Simpson’s identity is hard to be sure of, but he may have been the Samuel Simpson, born in Lancaster in 1802 and son of John Simpson (1779–1846), a retired West India merchant.

Harriet Shelley (née Westbrook; 1795–1816): Shelley’s first wife. They eloped and married in 1811. They had two children, but Shelley left her in 1814. She committed suicide two years later.

Elizabeth Smith (c. 1764–1859): Wife of Thomas Smith and a noted collector of autographs and manuscripts.