Horseman, John (1776–1844)

John Horseman (1776–1844): Clergyman. The son of an Oxfordshire cleric, he was educated at Corpus Christi, Oxford (BA 1795), where he remained as a fellow from 1795–1819. He was Rector of Heydon and Little Chishill from 1810. He was a university friend of Southey’s. Although they lost touch in the mid-1790s, in 1835 after a gap of ‘one and forty years’ Horseman wrote to Southey recalling their old acquaintance.

Hook, James (c. 1772–1828)

James Hook (c. 1772–1828): Dean of Worcester and brother of the writer and hoaxer Theodore Hook (1788–1841; DNB). Educated at Westminster School and St Mary Hall, Oxford (his admission to Christ Church was blocked in 1792 because of his involvement in ‘acts of insubordination’ whilst at school). Hook was one of the editors of the schoolboy magazine The Trifler, and a keen musician and artist. He was a friend of Southey’s during his time at Westminster, but their friendship did not last beyond schooldays.

Hone, William (1780–1842)

William Hone (1780–1842): Radical satirist, journalist and bookseller. He was tried on three successive days, 18–20 December 1817, for blasphemous and seditious libel, but was acquitted after conducting his own defence, speaking for about seven hours on all three days. His The Political House that Jack Built (1819) was one of the most famous and bestselling satires of its day. In this phase of his career Southey regarded Hone with contempt and was anxious to see him jailed or transported.

Holworthy, Samuel (c. 1785–1838)

Samuel Holworthy (c. 1785–1838): Anglican clergyman, Vicar of St John the Baptist, Croxall, 1809–1838. In 1811 he married Diana Sarah (d. 1857), daughter of the Jamaican plantation owner Nathaniel Bayly (1726–1798, Hist P), MP for Abingdon 1770–1774 and Westbury 1774–1779. In 1821 Holworthy sent Southey a copy of his Poems, by a Clergyman, published earlier in the same year.