In addition to managing her farm independently, James developed her poetic and musical skills, playing the harp and singing her own poems in the house and the fields according to strong local oral traditions. Her poems reflect her personal life experiences as a woman, wife, and mother. Nine poems by her survive, a high score for a Welshwoman before the nineteenth century. At least two of these poems were included in a manuscript volume, ‘Llyfr Coch Angharad James’, whose present whereabouts is unknown (DNB).
Jacob was the son of an army officer. The DNB discusses little beyond Jacob's publications, which included a succession of anonymous "ribald" poems, not all of which he acknowledged in his collected Works. Jacob's most substantial work in verse is the forgettable Brutus the Trojan … an Epic Poem (1735). He wrote poetry, drama, and prose.
Jacob is best known for his legal writings and was very influential in the field of law, but he also published literary works of the satirical, farcical, and pornographic bent. He also had the honor of being named a dunce in Pope's The Dunciad, likely for his "devotion to a culture of litigation that Pope deplored." His most successful work was A New Law Dictionary, which went through multiple editions; the publisher John Murray acquired a 160th share on 24 June 1807 at a cost of £13, suggesting a total value of £2080.
Ingram was the daughter of the third earl of Carlisle. She and her husband Rich Ingram had financial issues, worsened by the collapse of the South Sea venture. His death in 1721 left Anne childless to settle with the creditors. In the 1730s, she became more independent and published some poems, including a response to Pope's Epistle to a Lady: on the Characters of Women (‘Epistle to Mr Pope. By a Lady’) which presumably first appeared in GM Dec. 1736. Had some connection to Queen Caroline, who sent her to fetch Augusta to marry her son Frederick.
The DNB has interesting comments on Husbands's Miscellany, which seems to be his primary work before his young death: "Strangely, Richard Savage subscribed for twenty copies. The only poem in the volume now remembered is a college exercise by Samuel Johnson: a Latin version of Pope's ‘Messiah’ and Johnson's first appearance in print.
Little is known about Humphreys apart from his published works. The DNB says that "his poetic output was chiefly limited to the years 1728–32." He was chiefly a librettist for works produced by Handel and (begrudgingly so, the DNB suggests) a prolific translator. His most popular work was his Peruvian Tales.
Hulse was a clergyman who apparently entered a prize poem to GM, but I could find no evidence of this in ESTC or ECCO. He published religious sermons. Upon his death, he left estates to Cambridge as well as a bequest to found a dissertation prize and establish the post of a Hulsean lecturer for "the advancement and reward of religious learning."
After his expulsion from university, Amhurst became a professional political satirist. He used poetry and dedications primarily as a venue for satire, main targets of which were life at Oxford, and later, Walpole. He sustained a wide readership.