Edward Hawke Locker (1777–1849): Locker initially held a number of administrative posts in the Navy, concluding his career as private secretary to Lord Exmouth (1757–1833; DNB) during the latter’s time as commander in the Mediterranean, 1811–1814. Southey first wrote to Locker in search of information for his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832), but the two shared many interests and the correspondence continued.

John Leyden (1746–1839): A farmer from the area around Hawick, Roxburghshire, and father of the linguist and poet, John Leyden (1775–1811; DNB). In 1826 Southey wrote to Leyden to thank him for a copy of the Memoirs of Zehir-ed-Din Muhammed Baber, Emperor of Hindustan, published earlier that year. This combined his late son’s unfinished translation from the Eastern Turkish original with one by William Erskine (1773–1852; DNB) from a Persian version of the text.

Mary Lawrence (1780–1859): A Unitarian member of the circle of William Roscoe in Liverpool, whom Southey met on his visit there in February 1808. Lawrence ran a school, the Gateacre Academy, with her sisters Sarah and Eliza. A native of Birmingham, she moved to Leamington in later life.

Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830): Portrait painter. The son of a Bristol innkeeper, he was self–taught and displayed his brilliant talents as a draughtsman from childhood. He established himself as a fashionable painter in 1790 with a portrait of Queen Charlotte (1744–1818; DNB) and was much patronised by royalty. He was knighted in 1815 and was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1820. Southey wrote to him that year in response to an invitation he had received to the Academy’s Annual Dinner. Sir Robert Peel later commissioned Lawrence to paint Southey’s portrait.

Robert Eyres Landor (1781–1869): Writer and clergyman. Youngest brother of Walter Savage Landor.

Charles Lamb (1775–1834): Essayist, best known for Essays of Elia (1823). Lamb was the son of John Lamb (c. 1725–1779), a lawyer’s clerk, and grew up in the Inner Temple in central London. Charles Lamb was educated at Christ’s Hospital 1782–1789, where he became a close friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and began work as a clerk in the Accountant’s Office of the East India Company in 1792. Much of Lamb’s life was dominated by the need to care for his older sister, Mary Lamb, who stabbed their mother to death in 1796 and was subject to bouts of insanity.

Charles Lloyd, Senior (1748–1828): Quaker banker and translator of Homer. Father of Charles Lloyd.

Charles Lloyd (1775–1839): Poet. Eldest child of Charles, a wealthy Quaker banker, and his wife Mary. He matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge in 1798 but did not take his degree. He married Sophia Pemberton in 1799 and they moved to Ambleside in 1800.

Herbert Knowles (1798–1817): A member of a family of Nonconformist cloth merchants and manufacturers from Gomersal, near Leeds, Herbert was orphaned in 1805. His relatives eventually recognized his academic talents and he was sent to Richmond Grammar School. Knowles was concerned that he did not have the funds to enter Cambridge University (and possibly that his family would not be prepared to support his ambition to study there).

David Laing (1793–1878): Antiquarian and librarian. Born in Edinburgh, he was the son of the publisher and antiquarian bookseller William Laing (1764–1832; DNB) and his wife Helen (1767–1837). The elder Laing had lent books to help Southey with his edition of Le Morte d'Arthur (1817) and Southey visited his shop on his trips to Edinburgh in 1806 and 1819. David Laing entered his father’s business, becoming a partner in 1821. As well as being highly regarded for his professional knowledge, Laing also assembled his own extensive collection of books and manuscripts.