James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784–1859): The child of radical, Unitarian parents, Hunt quickly earned a reputation as a poet and a theatrical critic. In 1808–1821 he was the editor of the anti-government paper The Examiner, a role that earned him two years in prison, 1813–1815, for attacking the Prince Regent. Southey was resentful of Hunt’s criticism of Coleridge and Wordsworth and thoroughly disliked The Examiner and its politics. In later life Hunt became a friend and supporter of Byron, Shelley and Keats and a well-known (though never a wealthy) man of letters.

Arthur Hussey (1793–1862): Church of England clergyman. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1820 and, in 1822, appointed Curate at Sandhurst, Kent, where his father, William (1752–1831), was Rector 1781–1831. Later Hussey moved to Rottingdean, near Brighton, where he worked as an articled clerk. His interests included zoology, archaeology and history, and his Notes on the Churches in the Counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey was published in 1852. In 1825 Hussey wrote to Southey, objecting to a passage in The Book of the Church.

John Horseman (1776–1844): Clergyman. The son of an Oxfordshire cleric, he was educated at Corpus Christi, Oxford (BA 1795), where he remained as a fellow from 1795–1819. He was Rector of Heydon and Little Chishill from 1810. He was a university friend of Southey’s. Although they lost touch in the mid-1790s, in 1835 after a gap of ‘one and forty years’ Horseman wrote to Southey recalling their old acquaintance.

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.

Ann Elizabeth Heraud (d. 1867): Daughter of Henry Baddams (1776–1842); she married John Abraham Heraud on 15 May 1823 and the couple had six children, one of whom, Edith Heraud (d. 1899), an actress, wrote a Memoir of her father (1898).

Reginald Heber (1783–1826): Younger half-brother of Richard Heber, he was ordained in 1807 and gained some reputation as an Anglican theologian and hymn-writer. He was deeply interested in missionary work, was well-read on West and South Asia and was an occasional contributor to the Quarterly Review. In 1823 his friend Wynn obtained for him the post of Bishop of Calcutta and he died in India after a brief, but highly successful, term of office. Southey wrote a poem in memory of Heber for the Life of Reginald Heber (1830).

Thomas Hill (1760–1840): Book-collector and part-proprietor of the Monthly Mirror. Born in Lancaster in May 1760, he went at an early age to London, where for many years he carried on an extensive business as a drysalter at Queenhithe. He patronized Robert Bloomfield, whose The Farmer’s Boy he read in manuscript and recommended to a publisher. In his role as part-owner of the Monthly Mirror he befriended one of its contributors, the youthful Henry Kirke White. Southey believed that Hill owned probably ‘the best existing collection of English poetry’.

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.

Robert Southey Hill (1817–1872): The youngest child of Herbert Hill and his wife Catherine; he was named after his first cousin Robert Southey. In later life he became a doctor and botanist.