Henry Potter Henry Potter was born in 1810 (the same year as John Clinton) into a family with a solid musical background. Henrys father Samuel Potter (1772 - 1838) had enlisted in the Coldstream Guards at the age of 14 in 1786, and eventually by 1815 had risen to the rank of Regimental Drum Major. Samuel completed 30 years service with the Guards and resigned from the army in 1817 to set up a workshop located in King Street, Westminster for the purpose of making drums and wind instruments. Samuel seems to have concentrated on instruments with a military band connotation, such as drums, bugles, fifes, horns and trumpets. He actually wrote several published treatises, one being a method for playing the fife (1815) and the other being a manual for drums, fifes and bugles (1817). Samuels son Henry (1810 1876) presumably learned about instrument making from his father, and continued the business after his fathers death in 1838. By 1841 he was well established as his fathers successor, with premises at 2 Bridge Street, Westminster. | |
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