Thomas Bayley Potter


Thomas Bayley Potter DL, JP was a British Liberal Party politician.

Biography

Born in Polefield, Lancashire, he was the second son of Sir Thomas Potter and his wife Esther Bayley, daughter of Thomas Bayley. Potter received his early education in George Street, Manchester, then at Dr Carpenter's school in Bristol. He subsequently attended Rugby School under Dr. Arnold and then University College, London. In 1830 he became Chairman of the Manchester branch of the Complete Suffrage Society. In 1863 he was the founder and president of the Union and Emancipation Society. In 1865, Potter entered the British House of Commons and sat as Member of Parliament for Rochdale until 1895. He was a Justice of the Peace for Manchester and Lancashire, and for the latter also Deputy Lieutenant. In the House of Commons he was known as "Principles Potter".
He established the Cobden Club in 1866 and was honorary secretary until his death. He also supported Italian Unity and was a personal friend of Garibaldi.
He married firstly Mary Ashton, daughter of Samuel Ashton at the Unitarian Chapel of Gee Cross on 5 February 1846. She died in 1885 and Potter married secondly Helena Hicks, daughter of John Hicks at St Paul's Church, Lambeth, Surrey on 10 March 1887. Potter had four sons and a daughter by his first wife. He died, aged 80 in The Hurst, Sussex and was buried in Heyshott four days later.
At the end of his life Potter spent his vacations in Cobden's old home at Midhurst, where he died on 6 November 1898.

Family

In 1846 Potter married Mary, daughter of Samuel Ashton of Gee Cross, Hyde. They had four sons and one daughter, of whom, the third and fourth sons, Arthur and Richard, and the daughter Edith survived their father. Mrs. Potter died at Cannes in 1885, and Potter, in 1887, married Helena, daughter of John Hicks of Bodmin, who survived him.