Who was James Gillman, and how did he help Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

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Portrait of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge — Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge, detail of an oil painting by Washington Allston, 1814; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

James Gillman was a surgeon based in Highgate, a village north of London.1

Beginning in 1816, Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived in Gillman’s home, where the surgeon provided him with treatment for his opium addiction. This period of residence in Gillman's household contributed to more settled years for the poet, allowing him to find a sense of stability during the latter part of his life.1