Morris, William Richard (1802–1849)

William Richard Morris (1802–1849): Fourth son of John Morris (1765–1840), Director of the East India Company. From 1818 he was a member of the Bombay civil service. He befriended the East India Company army officer and historian James Grant Duff (1789–1858; DNB) and acted as his ‘first assistant’ on a three-volume History of the Mahrattas (1826). In 1826 Southey wrote to him to thank him for a copy of the History.

Morgan, John James (d. 1820)

John James Morgan (d. 1820): Businessman. His friendship with Southey dated from their time as pupils at Williams’ School, Bristol. From 1810–1816, Morgan and his wife took in Samuel Taylor Coleridge and attempted to cure him of his opium addiction. When Morgan’s finances collapsed in 1819, Southey, Charles Lamb and other friends contributed to an annuity for him.

More, Hannah (1745–1833)

Hannah More (1745–1833): Writer, educationist and conservative. More was born in Bristol, where her father, Jacob More (1700–1783) founded a series of schools. More taught in these schools until an annuity she received as compensation from her ex-fiancée for breaking off their engagement allowed her to concentrate on literature. Her first efforts were pastoral plays, and from 1773–1774 onwards she visited London regularly and became well-known in literary circles.

Moore, Thomas (1779–1852)

Thomas Moore (1779–1852): Irish poet, playwright, and satirist, who in later life turned to writing biography, including a life of his friend Byron, whose Whig politics he shared. As a poet Moore achieved commercial success with his Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Little (1801); subsequent volumes included Irish Melodies (1808–1834), Intercepted Letters, or, The Twopenny Post-Bag (1813), and The Fudge Family in Paris (1818).

Moor, Edward (1771–1848)

Edward Moor (1771–1848): Army officer and writer. He served in the army of the East India Company, rising to the rank of Major. After retiring back to his home county of Suffolk due to ill health, he produced the Hindu Pantheon (1810), which for over fifty years was the only authoritative book in English on the subject, and thus widely consulted. Other publications included Hindu Infanticide: an Account of the Measures Adopted for Suppressing the Practice (1811), Oriental Fragments (1834), and Suffolk Words and Phrases (1823).

Montgomery, James (1771–1854)

James Montgomery (1771–1854): A radical journalist and poet. His father was a Moravian pastor and missionary and Montgomery was educated at the Moravian school at Fulneck, near Leeds. He was the editor of the Sheffield Iris newspaper from 1794 to 1825, and was twice imprisoned in the 1790s for publishing articles critical of the authorities. He authored The Wanderer of Switzerland (1807), a poem severely criticised in the Edinburgh Review (Southey sympathised).

Montagu, Basil (1770–1851)

Basil Montagu (1770–1851): Lawyer and author, illegitimate son of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718–1792; DNB) and the actress Martha Ray (d. 1779; DNB). Montague, like Southey, was a member of Gray’s Inn, and was called to the Bar in 1798. He was a friend of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and in 1795 Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, undertook the upbringing of his two-year old son, Basil (1793–1830), by his first wife who had died in childbirth in 1793. His second marriage, in 1806, was to Laura Rush (d. 1806). Like his first wife, she died in childbirth.