Richard Phillips (1767–1840): Author and publisher, initially in Leicester and from 1795 in London. In 1796 he founded the progressive Monthly Magazine, employing firstly John Aikin and from 1806 George Gregory as its editor. A radical and republican, Phillips himself wrote anti-government articles for the periodical under the signature ‘Common Sense’. Phillips’s business prospered in the first decade of the nineteenth century. In 1807 he was elected a sheriff of London and in 1808 he was knighted.

Joseph Phillimore (1775–1855): Lawyer. Educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford (matric. 1793, BA 1797, BCL 1800, DCL 1804). He won prizes at Christ Church for Latin verse (1793) and prose (1798), and the University English essay prize (1798) for his dissertation, ‘Chivalry’. Southey and Phillimore met at Westminster School, and their friendship lasted until the end of Southey’s time at Oxford. When Southey returned to Oxford in 1820 to receive an honorary DCL, Phillimore, by then Regius Professor of Civil Law, participated in the degree ceremony.

Robert Philip (1791–1858): Congregational Minister. He was born at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and entered Hoxton Academy in 1811, becoming Minister at Newington Chapel, Liverpool, in 1815. He moved to London in 1826, when he took up an appointment at Maberly Chapel, Kingsland. He authored a series of religious manuals, including Christian Experience, or, A Guide to the Perplexed (1828), that were popular in Britain and North America.

Alfred Pettet (1788–1837): Born in Norwich, he was organist at Peter Mancroft church in the city from 1810 until his death. When Southey visited Norwich in 1824 he met Pettet, who successfully solicited a contribution from Southey to Pettet’s Original Sacred Music, the product of his conviction that Britain lacked good sacred music. Published by subscription and dedicated to George IV, the volume contained settings, by Pettet and others, of a number of older and contemporary devotional poems.

Spencer Perceval (1762–1812): Chancellor of the Exchequer 1807–1812, and Prime Minister 1809–1812. Southey admired Perceval’s opposition to Catholic Emancipation and Perceval was reported to be impressed by Southey’s attacks on Methodism. Perceval’s assassination in 1812 deeply shocked Southey, as it seemed to reveal popular sympathy with Perceval’s killer and to weaken the government’s hostility to Catholic Emancipation.

Sophia Pemberton (d. 1830): Daughter of a Birmingham manufacturer, she married Charles Lloyd on 24 April 1799. They moved to Old Brathay, near Ambleside, in 1800. They had nine children and a notably happy family life, despite Charles Lloyd’s bouts of mental instability. Thomas De Quincey claimed that ‘as a wife and mother’ Sophia was ‘unsurpassed’.

Christopher Pegge (d. 1822): A fellow of Christ Church, Oxford and from 1790 Lees Reader in Anatomy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1795 and was knighted in 1799.

Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850): Leading politician in the first half of the nineteenth century. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland 1812–1818, Home Secretary 1822–1827, 1828–1830 and Prime Minister 1834–1835, 1841–1846. Peel was always a controversial figure, especially when he changed tack and supported Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1845–1846. Both decisions alienated his conservative followers and he split the Tory Party on the latter occasion.

Robert Henry Peckwell (later Blosset; 1776–1823): Lawyer. Eldest son of Revd Henry and Bella Peckwell. In 1811, he assumed his mother’s surname. Educated Westminster (adm. 1785) and Christ Church, Oxford (matric. 1792, BA 1796, MA 1799). Admitted to Lincoln’s Inn 1795, called to the Bar 1801; Serjeant-at-Law 1809. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bengal, 1821; knighted 1822. Author of Cases on Controverted Elections in the Second Parliament of the United Kingdom (1805–1806). He never married.

Peacock (dates unknown): Southey lodged with Peacock and his wife in Newington Butts in 1797. Peacock was involved in the book trade, possibly as a travelling salesman. The Peacocks were unhappily married and later in life Mrs Peacock was central in having her husband committed to a private asylum. On at least two occasions, Peacock wrote to Southey from his ‘place of confinement’ and in 1816 Southey made enquiries about his case.