Peacock (dates unknown): Southey lodged with Peacock and his wife in Newington Butts in 1797. Peacock was involved in the book trade, possibly as a travelling salesman. The Peacocks were unhappily married and later in life Mrs Peacock was central in having her husband committed to a private asylum. On at least two occasions, Peacock wrote to Southey from his ‘place of confinement’ and in 1816 Southey made enquiries about his case.

Emma Frances Peachy (née Charter; d. 1809): Wife of Colonel and later Lieutenant-General William Peachy, from a family resident in Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, where she continued to spend winters after her marriage, Southey visiting on at least one occasion. In summer, Peachy was fond of rowing her boat on Derwentwater, near her home on Derwent Isle. Southey wrote an epitaph for her when she died, recalling her gliding across the lake in her skiff. Through Peachy, Southey was introduced to her uncle Sir Charles Malet (1752–1815) and his family.

James Montgomery (1771–1854): A radical journalist and poet. His father was a Moravian pastor and missionary and Montgomery was educated at the Moravian school at Fulneck, near Leeds. He was the editor of the Sheffield Iris newspaper from 1794 to 1825, and was twice imprisoned in the 1790s for publishing articles critical of the authorities. He authored The Wanderer of Switzerland (1807), a poem severely criticised in the Edinburgh Review (Southey sympathised).

Hannah More (1745–1833): Writer, educationist and conservative. More was born in Bristol, where her father, Jacob More (1700–1783) founded a series of schools. More taught in these schools until an annuity she received as compensation from her ex-fiancée for breaking off their engagement allowed her to concentrate on literature. Her first efforts were pastoral plays, and from 1773–1774 onwards she visited London regularly and became well-known in literary circles.

Mary Morgan (née Brent; b. 1782): The wife of one of Southey’s oldest friends, John James Morgan. She was the daughter of Moses Brent (d. 1817), a silversmith, and had married John James Morgan in 1800.

Basil Montagu (1770–1851): Lawyer and author, illegitimate son of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718–1792; DNB) and the actress Martha Ray (d. 1779; DNB). Montague, like Southey, was a member of Gray’s Inn, and was called to the Bar in 1798. He was a friend of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and in 1795 Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, undertook the upbringing of his two-year old son, Basil (1793–1830), by his first wife who had died in childbirth in 1793. His second marriage, in 1806, was to Laura Rush (d. 1806). Like his first wife, she died in childbirth.

John James Morgan (d. 1820): Businessman. His friendship with Southey dated from their time as pupils at Williams’ School, Bristol. From 1810–1816, Morgan and his wife took in Samuel Taylor Coleridge and attempted to cure him of his opium addiction. When Morgan’s finances collapsed in 1819, Southey, Charles Lamb and other friends contributed to an annuity for him.

William Nash (1780–1837): Brother of Edward Nash. Southey corresponded with him occasionally following Edward Nash’s death in January 1821.

Edward Nash (1778–1821): A painter who travelled in the Netherlands with Southey and his family in 1815 and who illustrated The Poet’s Pilgrimage to Waterloo (1816). Best known for his miniatures, Nash painted Southey, and a double portrait of Edith May Southey and Sara Coleridge, in 1820.

Robert Nares (1753–1829): Philologist, clergyman and reviewer. From 1779–1783 Nares was tutor to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn and his older brother, Watkin. He was Usher at Westminster School from 1786–1788, where he continued his tutoring of the Wynn boys and where he undoubtedly met Charles Wynn’s friend Southey. In 1793 Nares was the founder-editor of the pro-government review the British Critic.