Robert Southey: A Selective Chronology 1774–1803

The following chronology deals with significant dates in Southey’s life, from his birth in 1774 to the end of 1803, as well as listing his major publications.

1774	12 August: Born in Bristol, eldest surviving child of Robert and Margaret Hill Southey.

1776–1780	Lives with his aunt, Elizabeth Tyler, in Bath.

1780	Returns to the family home in Bristol.

1781–1787	Educated at various schools in and around Bristol and Bath. As a child, he develops the ambition to be a poet and produces a vast quantity of juvenile verse.

1788	Southey enrolled at Westminster School.

1789	As a 15 year-old schoolboy he writes an outline of Prince Madoc’s history and starts and abandons two prose versions of the story.

1792	April: Expelled from Westminster for publishing an essay describing flogging as the invention of the devil in The Flagellant, a magazine he founded with a group of school friends.
	November: Matriculates at Balliol College, Oxford.
	December: Southey’s father, Robert, dies.

1793	January: Southey enters Balliol College, Oxford.
	August–October: Writes twelve book version of Joan of Arc whilst staying in Brixton with Grosvenor Charles Bedford and family.
	December: Meets Robert Lovell in Bristol.

1794	April: Plans at least one jointly-authored volume of poetry with Robert Lovell.
	May: Southey probably becomes engaged to Edith Fricker.
	June: Meets Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Oxford. They begin to plan a ‘Pantisocratic’ community in America.
	July: Southey leaves Oxford and decides not to return. Southey and Lovell visit Cruttwell, a Bath publisher, who agrees to publish Poems (1795) and Joan by subscription.
	Summer/autumn: Southey begins work on a new, blank verse version of Madoc and writes a play, Wat Tyler.
	August: Southey, Coleridge and Lovell write a three act play, The Fall of Robespierre (Lovell’s contribution is later rejected). Coleridge takes a copy to London and Cambridge.
	September: Fall of Robespierre published under Coleridge’s name. Southey publishes two poems in the Morning Chronicle.
	October: Southey’s aunt, Elizabeth Tyler, throws him out of her house when she learns of his relationship with Edith Fricker and plans for a Pantisocracy.
	November: Joseph Cottle, who is introduced to Southey by Lovell, offers to publish Joan, negotiations continue until early 1795.
	December: Poems (1795), a joint production with Lovell, published.

1795	January–August: Southey shares lodgings in Bristol with Coleridge and George Burnett.
	March–April: Southey gives a series of ‘Historical Lectures’ at Bristol.
	May: Southey begins to revise Joan for publication and works on Madoc.
	June: Death of Edmund Seward, Southey’s closest friend from Oxford.
	August: Southey decides to study law. Breach with Coleridge and final end of Pantisocracy scheme.
	14 November: Marriage to Edith Fricker. Southey immediately leaves for Spain and Portugal with his uncle, Herbert Hill.
	December: First edition of Joan published by Cottle.

1796	May: Returns to England (where he learns of the death of Lovell), lives in lodgings in Bristol with Edith.
	July: Begins to contribute to the Monthly Magazine (until April 1800).
	December: Poems (1797) published by Cottle.

1797	January: Publishes Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal.
	February: Begins to study law at Grays Inn, London; meets Joseph Johnson circle including Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. Also begins work on a new version of Madoc (revising 1794–5 version).
	May: Begins to revise Joan after Cottle calls for a second edition; also makes changes to Poems for a second edition which appears later in the year.
	June: Southey is given an annuity of £160 by his old school friend, Charles Watkin Williams Wynn.
	June–September: Rents a cottage in Burton, Hampshire.
	November: Second edition of Joan at press. Southey returns to London.
	November–December: Southey’s poetry parodied in the Anti-Jacobin.

1798	16 January: Southey’s first poem published in the Morning Post.
	January: Southey planning Poems (1799).
	February: Leaves London for Bristol.
	May: Second edition of Joan of Arc published.
	May-June: Visits George Burnett in Yarmouth and William Taylor in Norwich.
	June: Rents cottage at Westbury-on-Trim, near Bristol, for a year.
	July: writes the first of his ‘English Eclogues’.
	August-September: Southey’s visit to Herefordshire. Begins to plan Thalaba the Destroyer (1801).
	October: Southey’s review of Lyrical Ballads published in the Critical Review. Walking tour of South Wales and the Borders with Charles Danvers.
	December: takes up William Taylor’s suggestion to produce an Annual Anthology.

1799	January: Second edition of Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal published.
	February: Poems (1799) published in 2 volumes (vol. 1 is a third edition of the collection published in 1797; vol. 2 is a new collection of poems, the majority of which are previously unpublished).
	March: the Pneumatic Institution opens in Bristol.
	May: Southey spends most of the month in London.
	11 July: Southey finishes 15-book version of Madoc.
	13 July: Southey begins writing Thalaba the Destroyer (1801).
	Late July-early October: Southey and Edith visit Devon.
	August: Reconciliation with Coleridge. Southey visits Nether Stowey and the two poets plan ‘Mohammed’ and ‘The Devil’s Thoughts’. First volume of Annual Anthology published.
	September-October: Southey visits Exeter. Begins collecting material for second volume of Annual Anthology.
	October-December: Southey and Edith live at Burton in Hampshire, where they had stayed in 1797.
	November: Southey publishes a letter in the Monthly Magazine proposing a new edition of the works of Thomas Chatterton.
	December: Southey and Edith return to Bristol, prompted by concerns for Southey’s health. He begins to think of travelling abroad. Southey ceases to write regularly for the Morning Post.

1800	January: Southey becomes involved in Rickman’s scheme for ‘beguinages’ to help poor single women.
	February: Southey writes to his uncle, Herbert Hill, asking to visit him in Portugal. Begins to plan ‘History of Portugal’.
	April: Second volume of Annual Anthology published.
	Southey and Edith travel to Falmouth and leave for Portugal, arriving 30 April.
	June-October: Southey and Edith spend the summer at Herbert Hill’s house in Sintra. In later years, Southey regards this as one of the happiest times in his life.
	19 July: Southey finishes the first draft of Thalaba the Destroyer (1801); begins sketching out ideas for The Curse of Kehama (1810).
	October: Southey sends the manuscript of Thalaba the Destroyer (1801) to John Rickman, to arrange publication. He then concentrates on collecting material for the ‘History of Portugal’. Arranging and writing this unfinished magnum opus will occupy him intermittently until his final illness in 1839.

1801	March–April: Southey journeys around Portugal.
	May: Southey begins work on The Curse of Kehama (1810) and continues intermittently until May 1803.
	June: Southey and Edith leave Portugal and return to Bristol by early July.
	July: Southey abandons his attempts to study law. He begins to review again for the Critical Review.
	Thalaba the Destroyer published.
	September: Visit to the Coleridges at Keswick, followed by walking tour in North Wales with Wynn.
	Rickman arranges for Southey to be appointed secretary to Isaac Corry.
	October: Visits Dublin and begins intermittently to revise Madoc – a process that lasts until October 1804.
	November: Southey moves to London.

1802	5 January: Death of Southey’s mother, Margaret Southey.
	March: Southey works in the British Museum on his Chatterton edition. He declines to edit the works of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams.
	May: By this time Southey reaches an agreement with Longman to produce a translation of Amadis of Gaul.
	Southey ceases to be employed by Isaac Corry; Southey and Edith move back to Bristol.
	31 August: Birth of Margaret Southey, first child.
	September: Southey visits South Wales with his brother, Tom, and plans to lease a house at Neath, near Swansea. This falls through, possibly due to Southey’s reputation as a radical, and he and Edith remain resident in Bristol.
	October: Francis Jeffrey’s review of Thalaba the Destroyer (1801) appears in the Edinburgh Review.
	November: Southey agrees to review for Longman’s new Annual Review, to be published each year, beginning in 1803.
	December: Southey declines William Taylor’s offer to edit the new Iris newspaper he is launching in Norwich; Southey, however, contributed a handful of poems between 1803-1804.
	Publication of the three volumes of Chatterton’s Works, edited by Southey and Cottle.

1803	January-July: Southey and Edith remain in Bristol; he engages in writing poetry, reviewing and translating, but spends most of his time on the ‘History of Portugal’.
	July: Amadis of Gaul published.
	July-August: Southey engaged on Longman’s plan (soon abandoned) for a ‘Bibliotheca Britannica’.
	August: Death of Margaret Southey.
	late August-early September: Southey and Edith leave Bristol and travel to Keswick, where they intend to stay on a temporary basis. They move into Greta Hall, shared with Coleridge and his family, the house’s owner (Mr Jackson) and his housekeeper (Mrs Wilson).
	12 November: ‘A Lamentation’, Southey’s poem on Robert Emmet, published by William Taylor in The Iris.