Frederick English was the third of seven children, one of whom died in infancy, of John English, surgeon of Fareham, Hampshire and his wife Elizabeth, née Hawker.
Sir John Hawker English MD LRCP was the eldest. He was born on 1 October 1786 (letter 88). He served as a military surgeon in the British army from 1806 to 1811, and later became surgeon-in-chief to the Swedish army. Having been decorated by the King of Sweden, he was knighted by the Prince Regent in 1815. He received doctorates in Göttingen in 1814 and in Aberdeen in 1823, in which year he also became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. He married Elizabeth Wigglesworth Bogle, Eliza in the letters, in 1817. He lived at Warley in Essex and died in 1840.
Georgina Mary English was born at Fareham on 1 June 1788. Her brother’s anguish caused by her inability to live within her means takes up a lot of space in the letters, see, for instance letters 71 and 72. She was summoned before the Insolvent Debtors’ Court on 1 April 1837, where her case was listed as ‘opposed’. I have not discovered what became of her.
Edward English was born at Fareham on 28 February 1791. He was in business in London at the time of the letters. He married Louisa Barry, née Miles, a widow, in London in 1831, and a son is reported in May 1836 (letter 56). Letter 70 records that Louisa has sent ‘a very handsome sword belt’.
Isabella English was born in Fareham on 9 December 1792 and died in infancy.
Charles English, the first Isabella’s twin, was a Commander in the Royal Navy. He married in 1836 (letter 56), and it is hinted that he might then have retired from the Navy.
Isabella English was born in Fareham on 23 August 1796. At the time of the letters she is living with Georgina and also implicated in her sister’s financial embarrassment.