Mr and Mrs Deacon: Friends of Grosvenor Charles Bedford and his family.

George Dyer (1755–1841): Author and advocate of political reform. Son of John Dyer, a shipwright of Bridewell, London. Educated at Christ’s Hospital and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (BA 1778). From the late 1780s to mid-1790s he was active in reformist causes, a member of the Constitutional Society and author of An Inquiry into the Nature of Subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1789, 2nd revised edn 1792), Complaints of the Poor People of England (1793) and A Dissertation on the Theory and Practice of Benevolence (1795).

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

Richard Duppa (c. 1768–1831): Writer (mainly on botany, art, literature and politics) and draughtsman. Son of William and Susannah Duppa. Educated (late in life) at Trinity College, Oxford (matric. 1807); entered Middle Temple 1810; graduated LLB Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1814.

George D’Oyly (1778–1846): Domestic Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury 1813–1815. He was co–editor of an annotated Bible (1814) for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge meeting in Bartlett’s Buildings, an Anglican missionary society founded in 1701, and a frequent contributor to the Quarterly Review. He corresponded with Southey in the 1820s.

Francis Douce (1757–1834): English antiquarian and Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum 1799–1811. Southey reviewed Douce’s Illustrations of Shakespeare and Ancient Manners (1807) and sent him some suggestions for further notes on obscure phrases in Shakespeare’s plays.

Sir Charles William Doyle (1770–1842): Irish Army officer, from a military family based in Kilkenny. He joined the 14th Foot as an ensign in 1783 and from 1793 onwards served with distinction in the Netherlands, the West Indies and Egypt. In 1808–1811 Doyle helped to arm and train Spanish troops in the Peninsular War. His work was judged a great success, especially in forming a group of light infantry known as ‘Doyle’s Triadores’ and he was made a Lieutenant-General in the Spanish Army.

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.

Thomas D’Oyley (1772–1855): Member of a family of Sussex landowners. He was a friend of Southey’s from Westminster School. D’Oyley was later a barrister and circuit judge and played a leading role in Sussex society and county administration. He had strong antiquarian interests.

Isaac Corry (1753-1813): Prominent Irish politician. Born in Newry, son of the merchant and MP Edward Corry. Educated at the Royal School, Antrim and BA, Trinity College, Dublin, 1773. Succeeded his father as MP for Newry in the Irish Parliament, 1776. Originally an opposition MP, he first gained office as surveyor-general of the ordnance in 1788 and rose to be Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1799–1804. Always a controversial figure, he fought a duel with the opposition MP, Henry Grattan (1746–1820; DNB), in 1800.