John Gorham Palfrey (1796–1881): American theologian and politician. He was the son of John (1768–1843) and Mary Sturgis Gorham Palfrey (1772–1803) and the grandson of William Palfrey (1741–1781), prosperous merchant and Paymaster General of the Continental Army. He was educated at Harvard and in 1818 was ordained as Minister of the Brattle Street Church, Boston. In 1823 he married Mary Ann Hammond (1800–1897). In 1830 he was selected to succeed Andrews Norton as Professor of Sacred Literature at Harvard. He also became the first Dean of the university’s Divinity School.

Amelia Opie (1769–1853): Writer. Born in Norwich, her father was the physician James Alderson (d. 1825). Brought up in progressive, Unitarian circles, she published poetry in the radical Norwich periodical, The Cabinet, in 1794. In 1798 she married the painter, John Opie (1761–1807; DNB) and moved to London, only returning to Norwich on his death in 1807. Opie contributed poems to Southey’s Annual Anthology (1799) and (1800) and became a prolific novelist after the success of Father and Daughter (1801).

Leland Noel (1797–1870): Youngest son of the Leicestershire landowner Gerard Noel Edwards (afterwards Noel; 1759–1838; Hist P), MP for Maidstone 1784–1788 and Rutland 1788–1808, 1814–1838. Leland Noel took holy orders and became Vicar of Chipping Campden 1824–1832 and then Rector of Exton 1832–1870, a living held by his family. With Charles Edward Kennaway, he visited Southey in Keswick in October 1820, dining at Greta Hall and going on mountain walks with the Poet Laureate.

Editor and owner of the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1792–1826. Printer, author and noted antiquarian. Among his many works was Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century (1812–1815).

James Nichols (1785–1861): Master printer and theological writer. Born in County Durham and brought up in Yorkshire, his early career was as a provincial printer. He moved to London in 1820. A keen promoter of Methodism, he published the proceedings of the first Methodist missionary meeting in Leeds (1813), printed the Arminian or Methodist Magazine (1831–1861), and edited Samuel Wesley’s Poems (1842, 1862).

Cornelius Neale (1789–1823): Clergyman and writer. He was the son of James Neale (c. 1760–1814), a china manufacturer and member of the London Missionary Society. Educated at St John’s, Cambridge, Cornelius was appointed to a curacy in Leicestershire after his ordination. His Mustapha: A Tragedy (1814) was dedicated to Southey.

William Nash (1780–1837): Brother of Edward Nash. Southey corresponded with him occasionally following Edward Nash’s death in January 1821.

Edward Nash (1778–1821): A painter who travelled in the Netherlands with Southey and his family in 1815 and who illustrated The Poet’s Pilgrimage to Waterloo (1816). Best known for his miniatures, Nash painted Southey, and a double portrait of Edith May Southey and Sara Coleridge, in 1820.

Robert Nares (1753–1829): Philologist, clergyman and reviewer. From 1779–1783 Nares was tutor to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn and his older brother, Watkin. He was Usher at Westminster School from 1786–1788, where he continued his tutoring of the Wynn boys and where he undoubtedly met Charles Wynn’s friend Southey. In 1793 Nares was the founder-editor of the pro-government review the British Critic.

John Samuel Murray (1778–1843): Publisher, who inherited his business from his father, John (1737–1793; DNB). After Murray took sole control of the firm in 1803, he proved a shrewd businessman. He published everything from cookery books and cheap reprints to the works of Byron, Scott, Crabbe and Jane Austen. After he purchased the business and premises at 50 Albemarle Street of William Miller (1769–1844; DNB) in 1812, he was at the centre of London literary life.