Sir John Potter (10 April 1815 – 25 October 1858) was a

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politician in the United Kingdom.

Early life

John was born in April 1815 at Polefield near

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...

, Lancashire. He was the elder son of Sir Thomas Potter and his second wife, Esther née Bayley. His father was involved in business and politics in the rapidly developing town of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and was named as the

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's first mayor when it was granted a

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. John grew up on the family estate at Buile Hill, Pendleton after its completion in 1827. He was educated at the

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Political career

Potter took no part in public life until the death of his father in March 1845. He was given his father's

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

ic seat on Manchester Town Council and made a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for the borough. He elected to serve as Mayor of Manchester in 1848, serving three terms until 1851. During the visit of

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to Manchester he was invested as a

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on 10 October 1851. In the same year he was made deputy lieutenant of the County Palatine of Lancaster. During his term of office, the Free Library was founded—an institution to which he made several donations. In politics he was stated to be an "Advanced Liberal" in favour of the widening of the electoral franchise. He was a member of the

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and continued to be a member of Manchester Town Council until his death. He was the head of Potter, Morris & Company, a large firm of Manchester merchants. The greatest of his many contributions to Manchester was the founding of its Free Library. Queen Victoria visited Manchester in 1851 and during the course of that visit she conferred on him the honour of a knighthood on 10 October 1851. At the 1857 general election, he was elected as one two

members of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MPs) for

. However, he suffered from ill health from the time he entered parliament, and declared his intention to resign his seat.

Death

Sir John died in office on 25 October 1858 at the age of 43 at Beech House, Eccles. He was buried at Ardwick Cemetery, Manchester.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, John 1815 births 1858 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1857–1859 Mayors of Manchester Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Knights Bachelor Deputy Lieutenants of Lancashire

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Manchester