William Thorp (1727–1800): Well-known hosier in Oxford, with a shop in Broad Street; Mayor of Oxford, 1775–6 and 1789–90. Thorp and his son and namesake, William Thorp (1762–1835), Vicar of Sandfield, 1807–35, were friends of Southey’s during his time at Oxford.

Thomas Thompson (1776–1861): Pharmaceutical and manufacturing chemist at Liverpool. He was a leading Quaker and corresponded with Southey in 1820–1821 about the latter’s proposed (but unrealised) life of George Fox (1624–1691: DNB), the founder of Quakerism.

William Bowyer Thomas (d. 1802): A native of Hereford, Thomas was the business agent for Herbert Hill, Southey’s uncle. His job also involved him in the tangled finances of Elizabeth Tyler, Hill’s half-sister and Southey’s aunt. Thomas met Southey during the latter’s 1795–1796 visit to Portugal. Southey stayed with him in Hereford in 1798 and through Thomas gained access to the cathedral library. In 1800 Thomas married a cousin, a woman Southey greatly admired. Thomas died suddenly in 1802.

Dr Thomas (first name and dates unknown): A native of Hereford, father of William Bowyer Thomas. He was involved in the management of Herbert Hill’s business affairs.

John Thelwall (1764–1834): Political radical, poet and erstwhile friend of Coleridge. Arrested on a charge of treason in 1794, Thelwall became first a farmer at Llyswen, Wales, then a speech therapist, journalist and itinerant lecturer on elocution. He remained a Radical but faded from the forefront of the political scene after the 1790s. Though they came to disagree on politics, Southey retained a good deal of affection for Thelwall.

Thomas Telford (1757–1834): Civil engineer and architect. The son of a shepherd from Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, he was apprenticed to a stonemason at the age of fourteen and taught himself how to design and manage building projects. Telford made his name as Surveyor of Public Works in Shropshire, where he built the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the River Dee (1805).

William Taylor (1765–1836): Reviewer and translator. Born in Norwich, the only child of William and Sarah Taylor. Taylor’s interest in German culture culminated in his Historic Survey of German Poetry (1828–1830). He was also a prolific contributor to the Annual Review, The Athenaeum, Monthly Magazine, and Monthly Review. Southey and Taylor met in 1798, whilst the former was on a visit to Great Yarmouth, where his brother Henry Herbert Southey was being tutored by George Burnett.

John Taylor (1781–1864): Publisher and writer. Born in Retford, Nottinghamshire, he was the son of the bookseller James Taylor (1752–1823) and his wife Sarah (b. 1760). Educated at Lincoln and Retford grammar schools, he moved to London in 1803, where he worked in the publishing and bookselling trade. In 1806 he set up his own business with James Augustus Hessey (1785–1870). The firm’s staple fare was sermons, moral tracts and homilies.

Henry Taylor (1800–1886): Poet and civil servant. The son of the gentleman farmer and classicist George Taylor. Southey became acquainted with the Taylors in the early 1810s via his brother Tom, who lived near them in County Durham. Taylor joined the Colonial Office in 1824, eventually rising to be senior clerk for the Carribean colonies. He married Theodosia (1818–1891), daughter of the politican Thomas Spring Rice in 1839. Taylor was a successful civil servant, knighted for his service to the Colonial Office in 1869. He managed to combine his job with a literary career.

George Taylor (1772–1851): Gentleman farmer, classicist and occasional contributor to the Quarterly Review. Taylor lived in County Durham and became acquainted with Southey through the latter’s brother, Tom. His son, Henry Taylor, later became a close friend of Southey’s and his literary executor.