Catherine Hill (1775–1848): Daughter of Lovelace Bigg-Wither (1741–1813), a Hampshire landowner. She and her sisters were friends of Jane Austen (1775–1817; DNB). In 1808 she married Herbert Hill and the couple had six children.

Julius Charles Hare (1795–1855): Writer and Church of England clergyman. He was born in Valdagno, Italy, the son of the historian, novelist and playwright, Francis Hare-Naylor (1753–1815; DNB) and his wife Georgiana (c. 1755–1806). His maternal aunt, Anna Maria (1748–1829; DNB), was the widow of the orientalist Sir William Jones (1746–1794; DNB). The family returned to England in 1799. What became a lifelong interest in German literature and scholarship began with Hare’s visit to Weimar in 1804. He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1812, graduated B.A.

Errol Hill (1812–1844): Third son of Herbert and Catherine Hill; a clergyman and Fellow of New College, Oxford. He was reputed to have proposed marriage to Southey’s daughter Katherine (Kate), but was turned down.

Richard Heber (1774–1833): Book-collector. Son of Reginald Heber, clergyman and landowner. Educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (BA 1796, MA, 1797). Heber edited some minor classical writers, but his main interest was his book collection, which finally totalled over 100,000 volumes housed in eight different locations. Though he concentrated on early English poetry and drama his library included classical works and a wide selection of European and Latin American literature. Heber was exceptionally generous in lending his books, and let Southey use his copy of Amadis of Gaul.

Herbert Hill (c. 1749–1828): Southey’s maternal uncle. Hill was the product of a second marriage, and after his father’s death was left short of money (even having to ‘pay his own school bills when it was in his power’) and on extremely bad terms with his older half-brother. Hill was educated at Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1772, MA 1774). From 1782–1807, he was chaplain to the British factory at Lisbon. Hill took a paternal interest in his nephews, and helped finance Southey’s education.

Poet, dramatist, reviewer and editor. The son of the law stationer James Abraham Heraud (d. 1846) and his wife Jane (d. 1850), he was educated privately. Eschewing the business career for which he had been intended, Heraud embarked on a literary life. He wrote essays, including ones on German literature, for periodicals, contributing to the Quarterly Review from 1827 and the Athenaeum from 1843. He was the assistant editor of Fraser’s Magazine 1830–1833.

Georgiana Hill (1816–1873): The only daughter of Herbert Hill and his wife Catherine.

Margaret (known as ‘Peggy’ and, occasionally, ‘Margery’) Hill (d. 1801): Southey’s cousin, probably the daughter of his mother’s brother Joseph Hill.

Francis George Hare (1786–1842): Brother of Julius Hare and Augustus William Hare (1792–1834; DNB), clergyman, tutor at New College, Oxford, and historian. The brothers were the sons of Francis Hare-Naylor (1753–1815; DNB), historian, novelist and playwright. Francis George Hare lived mostly on the Continent and was a close friend of Walter Savage Landor. He visited Southey at Keswick in 1827; Southey commented ‘Never did I see a man possessed of such exuberant spirits’.

Herbert Hill, Junior, (1810–1892): Second son of Herbert and Catherine Hill. Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow in 1832 and Sub-Librarian of the Bodleian Library in 1837–1838. He taught at Rugby School 1836–1839. In 1838 he was ordained and moved to the Lake District, where he was Curate at Rydal and also took on individual pupils. He married his cousin, Southey’s daughter Bertha, in 1839 and later moved to the Midlands, where he was Headmaster of King’s School, Warwick, 1843–1876.