Southey , Robert , 1774-1843 , poet, journalist and biographer

Robert Southey was born in Bristol in 1774. He was educated in Corston, Bristol and Westminster School. He entered Balliol College, Oxford in 1792 after he was expelled from Westminster for denouncing flogging in a school magazine, The Flagellant. In 1794 Southey wrote the play that belied his then republican spirit, Wat Tyler. Southey became a supporter of the Tory government. His epic poem Joan of Arc was published in 1795. He was appointed secretary to Isaac Corry, the Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer in c 1801. In 1809 Southey joined the staff of the Quarterly Review and wrote regularly for the periodical until 1839. From 1809 to 1815 he edited and principally wrote the Edinburgh Annual Register. He also wrote several books including, The Book of the Church Vindicated (1824), Sir Thomas More (1829) and Lives of the British Admirals (1833). Southey was appointed Poet Laureate in 1813, and to commemorate the death of King George III in 1821, he wrote his poem A Vision of Judgement. In 1826 he was elected MP for Downton, Wiltshire, but was disqualified for not possessing the necessary estate. He died in Keswick in 1843.