John Laurens Bicknell (c. 1786-1845): Solicitor, author, Fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He was the son of John Bicknell (1746–1787), a barrister, and his wife Sabrina (1756/7–1843; DNB). Bicknell’s father was an associate of Thomas Day (1748–1789; DNB), with whom he co-wrote The Dying Negro (1773). Sabrina Bicknell’s association with Day was rather different. She was the subject of his failed attempt to educate a wife by applying the theories of Rousseau.

William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850): Church of England clergyman and poet, whose Fourteen Sonnets (1789) were a key contribution to the revival of the sonnet form and a major influence on Coleridge and Southey in the mid-1790s. Bowles was descended from a long line of clergymen and was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Oxford. He followed in his family’s tradition and was ordained. He became Vicar of Bremhill, Wiltshire in 1804, a chaplain to the Prince Regent in 1818 and a Canon of Salisbury Cathedral in 1828.

Caroline Bowles (1786-1854): Writer. Born in Hampshire, she was the only surviving child of Charles Bowles (1737–1801), a retired Captain in the East India service, and Ann Burrard (1753–1817). The continuing decline in her family’s finances was reflected in their move from Buckland Manor, Bowles’s birthplace, to the more modest Buckland Cottage. In 1818, Bowles, fearing that she would lose her home due to the mismanagement of her guardian, wrote to Southey asking his advice about publishing her poetry with the aim of earning much-needed cash.

Elizabeth Browne (dates unknown): Unmarried daughter of Wade Browne by his first wife. Southey visited the family home in Ludlow when she was a young woman and later corresponded with her.

Sarah Browne (1793/1794-1860s): A daughter of Wade Browne by his first wife. In 1823 she married Charles Collins Crump (c. 1790–1876), Rector of Halford, Warwickshire from 1826. Southey visited the Browne family home in Ludlow when she was a young woman and later corresponded with her.

Wade Browne (1760-1821): Wealthy woollen merchant, who was Mayor of Leeds in 1791 and 1804, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Yorkshire. He retired to Ludlow in 1807 and Southey came to know him in 1808 when Browne and his family spent one of several summers in the Lakes. The two continued to correspond until Browne’s death.

John Britton (1771-1857): Antiquary and topographer, co-editor of the illustrated topographical survey, in 27 volumes, The Beauties of England and Wales (1801–1818) and editor of Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain. Southey corresponded with him about Chatterton, and Britton’s book on the latter appeared in 1813.

Elizabeth Browne (née Jones; dates unknown): The second wife of Wade Browne, by whom she had one daughter, Mary (1810–1892).

Joseph Bounden (fl. 1805-1824): Author whose works included Fatal Curiosity; or, the Vision of Silvester. A Poem (1805) and The Murderer, or, The Fall of Lecas: A Tale (1808). Bounden shared a publisher with Southey – Longman and his associates. He was also acquainted with John Abraham Heraud through the Philomathic Society and, via this connection, in August 1824 wrote to Southey, sending a copy of his most recent work, The Deserted City; Eva, a Tale in Two Cantos; and Other Poems (1824).

Jonathan Boucher (1738-1804): Schoolmaster, clergyman and lexicographer. Southey corresponded with him in 1802 concerning Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770; DNB).