Humphry Davy (1778-1829): Born in Penzance, son of Robert Davy, a woodcarver. Educated at Penzance and Truro grammar schools and apprenticed to an apothecary-surgeon in Truro. Davy had wide interests as a young man, writing poetry as well as conducting chemical experiments on the nature of heat, light and acidity. In October 1798 he went to Bristol to work for Thomas Beddoes at his Pneumatic Institution, which opened in March 1799. Davy soon became friendly with Southey and Coleridge, and they both participated in his experiments with nitrous oxide, or ‘laughing gas’.

Jane Davy (1780-1855): Wealthy widow, socialite and distant cousin of Walter Scott. She married Humphry Davy on 11 April 1812.

John Dawes (c. 1765-1845): Perpetual Curate of Ambleside, 1805–1845, and schoolmaster. His pupils included Hartley and Derwent Coleridge.

Howard Douglas 3rd Baronet (1776–1861): Artillery officer and writer on all aspects of gunnery. He served in Spain 1808–1809 and 1812 and provided Southey with information for his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). In return, Southey tried to arrange for Douglas’s Observations on the Motives, Errors and Tendency of M. Carnot’s System of Defence (1819) to be reviewed in the Quarterly Review. Douglas was later a General and Governor of New Brunswick 1823–1831, and High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 1835–1840.

Elizabeth Dolignon (d. 1802): The widowed Mrs Dolignon and her sisters, the Misses Delamere, were friends of Southey’s aunt Elizabeth Tyler. Southey spent time at the Delamere home (Theobalds) in Hertfordshire, and Elizabeth Dolignon seems to have acted as his guardian during his time at Westminster School. William Vincent wrote to her (and not to Southey’s parents) regarding his involvement in The Flagellant. Southey, in turn, went from Westminster to the Delameres’ house after his suspension from school.

Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859): Writer, essayist and literary critic, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821). De Quincey was the son of a successful merchant and was born in Manchester. A brilliant scholar as a child, his schooling was erratic, and though he entered Worcester College, Oxford in 1803, he did not take his degree. A passionate admirer of Wordsworth and Coleridge, he lived at Wordsworth’s former home, Dove Cottage, Grasmere, from 1809–1819, when he came to know Southey. De Quincey married Margaret Simpson (d.

Allan Cunningham (1784-1842): Poet, songwriter, and periodical writer. Cunningham, the son of a Dumfriesshire factor, was immersed in the literary culture of the Scottish borders. As a youth, he heard Robert Burns (1759–1796; DNB) recite and later walked in Burns’ funeral procession; visited James Hogg (who became a friend); and walked to Edinburgh to catch sight of Walter Scott. The Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song (1811), whose ‘old’ poems were actually modern compositions by Cunningham, attracted attention.

James William Dodd (?1759/60–1818): An Usher at Westminster School from 1784.

John Edmondson (d. 1823): A surgeon and apothecary in Keswick, who treated the Southey family.

James Dusautoy (c. 1797–1815): Son of a retired officer from Totnes, Devon. He cherished ambitions for a poetic career. As a schoolboy in 1811 he canvassed Walter Scott’s advice and was politely encouraged to improve his writing by gaining more knowledge. In 1813 Dusautoy sent some of his verses to Southey. The latter replied and a correspondence about Dusautoy’s career ensued. He took Southey’s advice and was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1813. In 1814 he entered an ode, in Spenserian stanzas, for a university prize in English poetry.