Vivian Potter

File:Vivian Harold Potter, 1916.jpg

Vivian Harold Potter (23 October 1878 – 19 November 1968) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament, miner, trade unionist, and soldier.

Private life

Potter was born in Hamilton in 1878, the son of Albert Potter.{{cite web |title=vivian harold potter |url= http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/soldier/vivian-harold-potter |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=29 December 2013}} His mother was Catherine Potter (née Whitehouse), Albert Potter's second wife. Albert Potter left his first wife in 1862 in Hobart when he discovered that both she and Catherine Whitehouse were pregnant with his children; he secretly took four of their five children with them to Auckland. His first wife tracked him down in Mount Eden in 1892.{{cite news |title=Found at Last |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH18921201.2.57 |access-date=29 December 2013 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=1 December 1892 |volume=XXIX |issue=9050 |page=6}}

Vivian Potter mostly lived in Auckland during his early life. He fought in the Second Boer War with the 7th Contingent for about two years; he was a Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant with registration number 4045.{{cite news |title=Mr. Vivian H. Potter |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19191218.2.155 |access-date=29 December 2013 |work=The Evening Post |date=18 December 1919 |volume=XCVIII |issue=146 |page=10}}

After the Boer War, he married Lillah Coleman at Waihi in January 1904. He was a miner at Waihi and was a member of the Waihi Miners' Union, but opposed the 1912 strike.{{cite book |first=Barry |last=Gustafson |author-link=Barry Gustafson |title=Labour's path to political independence: The Origins and Establishment of the New Zealand Labour Party, 1900–19 |place=Auckland, New Zealand |publisher=Auckland University Press |year=1980 |page=164 |isbn=0-19-647986-X}} After the strike was over, he travelled the North Island and lectured on labour arbitration and conciliation.

He was a second lieutenant in World War I. He was granted indefinite leave from military service in March 1918 because he suffered from sciatica.

Political career

{{NZ parlbox

|start={{NZ election link year|1919}}

|end=1922

|term=20th

|electorate={{NZ electorate link|Roskill}}

|party=Reform Party (New Zealand)

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{{NZ parlbox

|start={{NZ election link year|1922}}

|end=1925

|term=21st

|electorate=Roskill

|party=Reform Party (New Zealand)

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{{NZ parlbox

|start={{NZ election link year|1925}}

|end=1928

|term=22nd

|electorate=Roskill

|party=Reform Party (New Zealand)

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Potter served on the Waihi Borough Council. He chaired the Waihi school committee for some time, and was on the advisory committee for the Technical School.

Potter represented the Roskill electorate for the Reform Party in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1919 to 1928.{{cite book |last= Scholefield |first= Guy |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 |author-link=Guy Scholefield |edition=3rd |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1950 |publisher=Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |page=133}} In the {{NZ election link|1928}}, Potter stood in the {{NZ electorate link|Eden}} electorate for the Reform Party but was beaten by Arthur Stallworthy.{{cite book |title=The General Election, 1928 |year=1929 |publisher=Government Printer |url= https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1929-I.2.3.2.37 |access-date=4 December 2013 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=Electoral |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19281105.2.180.4 |access-date=29 November 2014 |work=Auckland Star |volume=LIX |issue=262 |date=5 November 1928 |page=20}} In the 1931 election, he was one of five candidates in Eden and came last.{{cite news |title=Election Returns |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19311209.2.88.1 |access-date=29 December 2013 |work=The Evening Post |date=9 December 1931 |volume=CXII |issue=139 |page=9}} In the {{NZ election link|1935}}, he stood in Roskill electorate again, and came fourth of the five candidates.{{cite news |title=Blomfield and Jaget Singh |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19351205.2.28 |access-date=29 December 2013 |work=The Evening Post |date=5 December 1935 |volume=CXX |issue=136 |page=5}}