Paul Hugh Howard Potts (19 July 1911 – 26 August 1990), a British-born poet who lived in British Columbia in his youth, was the author of ''Dante Called You Beatrice'' (1960), a memoir of unrequited love. One of the women treated in the memoir was Jean Hore, who married the writer

Philip O'Connor __NOTOC__ __NOTOC__ Philip Marie Constant Bancroft O'Connor (8 September 1916 – 29 May 1998) was a British writer and surrealist poet, who also painted. He was one of the 'Wheatsheaf writers' of 1930s Fitzrovia (who took their name from a pub). ...

but ended up confined as a schizophrenic for over fifty years until her death. Potts was born in

Datchet Datchet is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, located on the north bank of the River Thames. Historically part of Buckinghamshire, and the Stoke Hundred, the village was eventual ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

to (Arthur George) Howard Potts (1869-1918), who had emigrated to Victoria,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, where he was a partner in a bakery and confectionery business, and his Irish wife Julia Helen Kavanagh (also recorded as Cavanagh). Arthur Potts's father, Dr Walter Jeffery Potts (1837-1898), had married Julia, daughter of

Sir Thomas Branthwaite Beevor, 3rd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

; many descendants with the name 'Beevor-Potts' live in Canada. He was educated in Canada, England (at Stonyhurst until the age of sixteen) and Italy (at a Jesuit college in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

), but from the early 1930s he lived in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He frequented the

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia () is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urban ...

area where he would sell broadsheet copies of his poetry in the streets and pubs. Among Potts's literary friends were

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...

and the English poet George Barker. Potts's memoir of Orwell, "Don Quixote on a Bicycle", appeared in ''

The London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics. 1732–1785 ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly I ...

'' in 1957 and became a chapter of ''Dante Called You Beatrice''. His 1948 essay “The World of George Barker” appeared in ''Poetry Quarterly''. In late middle-age, Potts was '...balding' with 'a stutter that he mixed with rapid blinking and an amused chuckle as he started a sentence', eventually becoming a dissolute figure 'barred from Soho pubs'. Potts died in 1990 of smoke inhalation from a fire in his bedroom; he had been house-bound for some years.The Arms of the Infinite: Elizabeth Smart and George Barker, Christopher Barker, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010, pg 181

Bibliography

*(1940) ''A Poet's Testament'', with drawings by Cliff Bayliss and Scott MacGregor, foreword by Hugh MacDiarmid *(1944) ''Instead of a Sonnet'' (enlarged 1978) *(1960) ''Dante Called You Beatrice'' *(1970) ''To Keep A Promise'' *(1973) ''Invitation to a Sacrament'' *(2006) Ronald Caplan (ed.), ''George Orwell's Friend: Selected Writings by Paul Potts''

Bibliography

See also

Notes and references

Further reading