Valentine’s Day might be over but in Ottery, birthplace of one of Britain’s best loved romantic poets, the romance never ends. Another thing you’ll find in droves is references to the region’s literary connections, Ottery St Mary inspired the Weasley’s home in Harry Potter after all!

As World Book Day takes place this month, we thought we’d take a look at Ottery’s best known literary export, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. How many of these facts did you know about the poet?

  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on 21st October 1772 in Ottery St Mary
  • His father, John Coleridge, was the vicar of St Mary’s Church and the former headmaster of the King’s School, which was set up by Henry VIII. You can still visit some of the places associated with the family by following the Blue Plaque Trail 
  •  Samuel had a big family, he was the youngest of 13 on his dad’s side and the youngest of 10 on his mother’s! That’s a lot of birthdays to remember!
  • When he was 8, his father died and he was sent to Christ’s Hospital, a charity school in London where he spent the rest of his childhood.
  • He went on to study at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he won the Browne Gold Medal for a piece he wrote attacking the slave trade. However, he didn’t ever receive his degree.
  • Samuel is credited as being the co-founder of Britain’s Romantic Movement, which included poets such as William Wordsworth and Robert Southey.
  • While at college, he met and married Sara Ficker, although it was an unhappy marriage, they had four children together, they were separated by 1804.
  • In the 1790s, he began to release his first set of poems, including his first volume, poems on Various Subjects
  • In the later part of the 1790s, he lived in Somerset, where he met William Wordsworth. While here he wrote his most famous poems, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.
  • Throughout his lifetime, Samuel Coleridge was both physically and mentally unwell, many of his ailments were treated with laudanum, which led to a lifelong addiction to opium.
  • He was an incredibly fussy eater, one report claims that he would eat eggs sprinkled with cayenne pepper which he ate from a teacup rather than a plate.
  • Later in life he travelled to Sicily and Malta, where he was working as Acting Public Secretary of Malta under the Civil Commissioner. He hoped that the warmer weather would improve his health, but his opium addiction took over his life.
  • In 1816, in the ravages of addiction, he moved to Highgate in London, with his home becoming a literary pilgrimage for writers.
  • He died in 1834 in Highgate, his cause of death was recorded as heart failure. He was 61.

Learn more about Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his family by visiting Ottery St Mary. You can find several places around the town that are dedicated to him and his father.