William Godwin (1756–1836): Philosopher, journalist and novelist. Godwin was born in Wisbech and grew up in a middle class and fiercely Nonconformist household. He was educated at Hoxton Academy and was a Congregationalist Minister in Suffolk 1778–1782, before resigning his post and moving to London to try and make a living from literary work. His views became increasingly radical, and he embraced atheism and philosophical anarchism.

Anne Grant (1755–1838): Scottish poet and author, best known for Memoirs of an American Lady (1809) – a work that was greatly admired by Southey. Born Ann Macvicar, she grew up mainly in New York and Vermont, before her family moved back to Scotland in 1768. In 1778 she married a clergyman, James Grant, and after his death in 1801 supported herself from her writings and by taking in pupils. She was a prominent figure in Edinburgh literary life and Southey met her when he visited the city on 17–18 August 1819. They later corresponded briefly on literary matters.

Justus Hiddes Halbertsma (1789–1869): Minister in the Mennonite Church in the Netherlands and leading figure in the creation of a literary tradition in West Frisian. He was born in Grou in Friesland, the son of a baker, and trained at the Mennonite seminary in Amsterdam 1807–1813, before becoming a Minister in Bolsward 1814–1821 and Deventer 1822–1856. Halberstma and his two brothers issued the first collection of folk tales in Western Frisian, De Lapekoer fan Gabe Skroar, in 1822, and the collection was reissued and expanded throughout his lifetime.

John Matthew Gutch (1776–1861): Educated at Christ’s Hospital with Coleridge and Lamb and later the owner and printer of Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal, 1803–1844. He also printed Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria (1817). Gutch was an enthusiastic collector of antiquarian books, and major sales from his library occurred in 1810, 1812, 1817 and 1858.

George Bellas Greenough (1778–1855): Geologist and MP. He was the only surviving child of George Bellas (d. 1784) and his wife Sarah. In 1795 he adopted the surname of his maternal grandfather, the wealthy apothecary Thomas Greenough, on inheriting the latter’s fortune. A Dissenter, he completed his studies at the University of Göttingen in the late 1790s and befriended Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He returned to England in 1801 and was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1807. In the same year he was a founder-member of the club that became the Royal Geological Society.

James Gooden (1773–1851): A merchant in the Portugal and Brazil trade with literary and antiquarian tastes. He assembled an impressive collection of books and manuscripts on Brazil and Southey thanked Gooden for lending him ‘the Life of F. Joam d’Almeida, among other books, and a manuscript Apology for the Jesuits in Paraguay and Maranham, of great importance’; see Southey’s History of Brazil, 3 vols (London, 1810–1819), II, p. [v].

Edmund Goodenough (1785–1845): Headmaster of Westminster School 1819–1828. He was a clergyman and later Dean of Wells 1831–1845. Southey wrote to him in his capacity as Headmaster of Westminster School.

Robert Gooch (1784–1830): Obstetric physician from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. He became a close friend of Henry Herbert Southey when they both studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and also knew William Taylor. Gooch graduated MD in 1807 and became, as Henry also did, a contributor to the journal the London Medical Record. In 1811–1812 Gooch set up a successful medical practice in London, and published important works on puerperal fever. Gooch met Southey on a tour of the Lakes in 1811 and the two began a lifelong correspondence.

James Grahame (1765–1811): Scottish poet and, from 1809, a clergyman of the Church of Scotland. He published The Sabbath (1804) (reviewed by Southey in the Annual Review (1806)), British Georgics (1808) (reviewed by Southey in the Quarterly Review (1810)), and The Siege of Copenhagen; a Poem (1808).

William Gonne (d.1815): Wealthy merchant, based in Portugal. He first met Southey in 1800, when he was the packet agent at Lisbon. In 1815 his daughter Louisa married Henry Herbert Southey.