Harry Rowland Potter and his role in World War One New Zealand

While doing some light research on New Zealand during World War One, I was looking into some information about conscientious Objectors. Something at the time interested me in the famous 14 objectors who had refused to serve in the war, but were forced onto a ship in Wellington and sent to the war. One of them was Archibald Baxter and there seemed to be a bit of information on him. I should point out that New Zealand had conscription during World War One, which meant people were sort of required to serve.

I had no idea that I would be related to someone that had some form of impact on the lives of the 14 who were shipped off to the Western Front. It was interesting reading about the camp commander of Camp Trentham near Wellington. I actually came across the name of an HR Potter that had me wondering if this was a relation. Only because Potter was in my family tree and a family that had lived in the Hokianga area of New Zealand. Looking up the man’s service record and what I had within my own information proved he was actually related and had been born in 1875, parents were Albert and Catherine Potter both are buried in Waikumete Cemetery. According to his file he died in 1965 age 90. 

Archibald Baxter mentions Potter within his book about being an objector, but never names the man. It wasn’t until I had read further material about ‘Objectors and military defaulters’ by Greg Ryan that the name HR Potter was used. Paul Baker also mentions a Colonel Potter at Camp Trentham in regard to the treatment of the 14 objectors who would be sent out to sea without any notice. Both mentions of Potter had my attention alright and I thought I now had a family member who had a real claim to fame that some people might not like at all especially during the war years of World War One. The more I read, the more I wondered if other family members including one Religious Objector had passed through the area. He had been allowed to carry on with his life, but you never know what could have happened through the Military board hearings.

Harry Rowland Potter had an interesting career as he stayed with the New Zealand military from the Boar War and retired in 1936. He had been camp commandant of Trentham from September 1914 to 20 March 1917. The strange thing is that the infamous Fourteen were at Trentham around July 1917, But Harry Potter was still in command during this time. In 1919, he was an officer commanding the Northern Command and in 1921, he was the commander of the Northern Military District. I am guessing that Harry was a tough man when involved within the military, but fair with his family. His military record is online through Archway, which is the New Zealand National Archives.

Sources

Online Cenoteph

http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph

Baker, Paul King and Country Call: New Zealanders, Conscription and the Great War, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1988.

Ryan, Greg   'Men Who Defaulted in the Greatest Game of All: Sport, Conscientious Objectors and Military Defaulters in New Zealand 1916-1923', The International Journal of the History of Sport, 2014, pp. 2375-2387.