London booksellers and publishers. George Robinson (1736–1801; DNB) and his brothers James Robinson (d. 1803/4; DNB), John Robinson (1753–1813; DNB), and possibly Henry Robinson (d. in or after 1813; DNB).

Owen Rees (1770–1837): Publisher and bookseller. He was born at Geli-gron, Wales, eldest brother of Thomas Rees, Unitarian minister and writer on theological history. Owen Rees migrated to Bristol where he became a bookseller. He later moved to London and in 1797 was taken into partnership by the publisher Thomas Norton Longman. From 1799 Longman and Rees became Southey’s main publishers. Rees retired from the business in early 1837.

Samuel Rogers (1763–1855): Poet and banker. His writings included The Pleasures of Memory (1792), ‘Columbus’ (1810), ‘Jacqueline’ (1814) and Italy (1822 and 1828). A wealthy, metropolitan Dissenter, Rogers was exceptionally well connected and had many acquaintances in common with Southey. They were on social terms, meeting occasionally and corresponding intermittently. They shared an interest in assisting others, a trait Southey drew on in 1816 when he asked Rogers to help the young poet Herbert Knowles.

Thomas Rees (1777–1864): Unitarian minister and writer on theological history. He was the younger brother of Owen Rees. Southey corresponded with him in 1809 over the Annual Review, which Rees edited for that year.

John Rickman (1771–1840): Statistician. Only son of Thomas Rickman, vicar of Newburn, Northumberland. Educated at Guildford Grammar School (1781–1785) and Oxford (matric. Magdalen Hall, 1788, and migrated to Lincoln College, BA 1792). After graduation he joined his father, who had retired to live in Christchurch, Hampshire. Rickman worked as a private tutor and read widely in economics. He edited the Commercial, Agricultural and Manufacturer’s Magazine (until 1801). In 1796 he wrote a private paper in which he argued for the benefits to the nation of a census.

Samuel Reid (c. 1775–1821): A Bristol friend of Southey’s; probably the younger brother of the insurance broker William Reid (b. 1774). Sam Reid had intended to pursue a career as a Unitarian minister, but abandoned it after a crisis of faith. In 1806 he moved to Liverpool, where he worked as a private tutor.

Barré Charles Roberts (1789–1810): Third child and second son of Edward Roberts. A delicate child, he showed a precocious interest in antiquities and amassed a coin collection that was said to be worth 4,000 guineas. He was a student at Christ Church, Oxford, 1805–1808, and contributed to the Gentlemans Magazine and Quarterly Review, especially on numismatics. After his early death, Grosvenor Bedford, who was his cousin, compiled a Memoir (1814), which was, unsurprisingly, favourably reviewed by Southey in the Quarterly Review.

Robert Rouse (fl. 1820s): Clerk in the East India Company, working in its ‘Private Trade Warehouse’ in Leadenhall Street. Southey corresponded with him in 1826, when Rouse acted as an intermediary for someone offering Southey sight of previously unused letters that shed light on John Wesley (1703–1791; DNB).

William Isaac Roberts (1786–1806): A Bristol writer who died aged nineteen. Southey helped promote an edition of his letters and poems in 1811.

James Horace Rudge (1785–1852): Church of England clergyman, educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and ordained in 1808. He held a number of clerical appointments, including, from 1809, the post of Lecturer at St Anne’s, Limehouse, London, chaplain to various members of the royal family and Rector of Hawkchurch, Devon 1828–1852. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1814.