Richard Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley (formerly Wesley; 1760–1842): Governor-General of Bengal, who returned to England in early 1806. Wellesley’s governorship was marked by a drive to acquire more territory in India. On his return, political controversy soon erupted: James Paull (1770–1808; DNB), Indian trader (1790–1805), accused Wellesley of ruining his trade in Lucknow (Bengal) and undermining the nawab of Oudh’s authority there during the years 1801–1802. This challenge kept Wellesley out of political office until 1809.

Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852): Pre-eminent British soldier of the nineteenth century, created Duke of Wellington in 1814. In later life he was a Tory politician, and Prime Minister 1828–1830, 1834. Southey’s relationship with Wellington was deeply ambiguous. He passionately supported Wellington’s aim of defeating the French invasion of Spain in 1808–1813, but was often critical of Wellington’s tactics, especially his caution and unwillingness to rely on Spanish help.

Richard Watson (1737–1816), Bishop of Llandaff: In the 1790s a critic of the French revolution and its British supporters and an opponent of Gilbert Wakefield. Southey came to know Watson after his move to the Lakes, visiting him at his Calgarth estate in Troutbeck Bridge, Windermere, where he had lived since 1788.

Chauncy [also Chauncey] Hare Townshend [originally ‘Townsend’] (1798–1868): Poet and collector. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he won the Chancellor’s English medal in 1817 for a poem, ‘Jerusalem’. He was ordained but never took up a living. Determined on a poetic career, he wrote to Southey for advice. The latter encouraged his ambitions; Townshend visited Greta Hall and dedicated his Poems (1821) to the Poet Laureate.

Horatio Gates Spafford (1778–1832): American Quaker, inventor and writer. He sent Southey a copy of his Gazetteer of the State of New York (1813), and the two corresponded in 1817 about Spafford’s novel, The Mother-in-Law (1817), which was set in the Lake District.

John Joshua Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort (1751–1828): Politician and writer. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. In the mid-1790s, Carysfort developed an interest in Southey’s poetry, communicating with him through his cousin and Southey’s patron Charles Wynn. Southey arranged for Carysfort to be sent copies of his books, though any letters he wrote to the peer have not survived. Carysfort’s critiques of ‘The Retrospect’ and Madoc are in National Library of Wales, NLW MS 4819.

Samuel Jackson Pratt [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749–1814): Writer and actor. In 1803 he sent Southey a copy of his Gleanings, which contained a poem in praise of Southey’s popular ballad ‘Mary’.

William Peachy, Colonel and later Lieutenant-General (c. 1763–1838): A Keswick resident, MP for Yarmouth (1797–1802) and Taunton (1826–30). An officer in the Wiltshire militia and a convivial host at his home in Keswick and later on Derwent Isle, Derwentwater. Southey was very fond of Peachy’s wife, Emma Frances Charter, for whom he wrote a poetic epitaph when she died in 1809. His third daughter, Emma (February 1808–May 1809), was named after her.

James Wellwood Moncreiff, 9th Baronet (1776–1851): Member of a family of Perthshire landowners, Scottish lawyer and Judge of the Court of Session from 1829. He was a Whig and supported the Free Church when it broke away from the Church of Scotland in 1843. Moncreiff was educated at Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford. He and his elder brother, William Wellwood Moncreiff (c. 1775–1813), knew Southey during their time at Balliol, and James corresponded briefly with Southey in 1816.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Hawkesbury/2nd Earl of Liverpool (1770–1828): A Tory politician who was successively Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies and then, from 1812–1827, Prime Minister.