Denys Campion Potts


Denys Campion Potts was a scholar and authority on French literature. His obituary in The Daily Telegraph stated that he ‘shared with the authors he studied their belief in reason as well as their penchant for irony’.

Life

Denys Campion Potts was born in Salford on 17 March 1923. He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead, where he was strong in mathematics and was introduced to classical music, a lasting pleasure in his life. He later read mathematics at Brasenose College, Oxford.
Potts graduated in 1944 and, on the recommendation of C. P. Snow, he was recruited by Rolls Royce to carry out his war service, utilising his mathematical abilities. He was not convinced that industry or mathematics were attractive career paths so he chose to return to Brasenose to study Modern Languages having taken a crammer in French. His interview for the course was conducted by Robert Shackleton in a Paris café. Potts subsequently completed the Modern Languages degree in two years, graduating with a First in 1949, and immediately began a doctorate as a Senior Hulme Scholar spending a year as a lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
Potts's specialism was the French Enlightenment and his doctorate focussed on the work of Charles de Saint-Évremond. Having completed his doctorate, Potts became a Besse Fellow at Keble College, Oxford where he focussed on French authors of the 17th and 18th centuries and wrote French Thought Since 1600 with D.G. Charlton. Unusually, at the time, he also lectured on 20th century French poetry and the Nouveau roman.
Potts remained at Keble until his retirement in 1989 having also served as Dean and Sub-Warden at the college. Potts was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan.
Potts retained a lifelong interest in classical music and in 1950 he befriended the French composer Joseph Canteloube, and was present at the first recording of Chants d'Auvergne. At Oxford he was President of the Gramophone Society. After he retired, Potts travelled with his wife and enjoyed his love of opera. His enduring interest in Charles de Saint-Évremond led him to edit a further book of the essayist's letters.

Potts married Doraine with whom he had two sons and two daughters.

Selected bibliography