Background
Potter was born in Dublin, the son of Richard Ellis Potter and Harriot Isabel Kingscote.
Potter was born in Dublin, the son of Richard Ellis Potter and Harriot Isabel Kingscote.
He was educated at Charterhouse School and New College, Oxford.
He entered the Indian Civil Service on 9 October 1928. In December of that year he was posted to Burma as Assistant Commissioner, and oversaw the Government relief effort following the 1930 Pyu earthquake. In 1934 Potter became a District Commissioner in Burma and in 1937 he was appointed Controller of Finance.
In 1942, Potter became financial advisor to the British Army in Burma, before serving briefly as Financial Secretary to the Government of Burma.
On 1 June 1943 he received a commission in the British Indian Army and subsequently worked as financial adviser to the 11th Army Group. From 1944 to 1947 he was Chief Financial Officer to the Military Administration of Burma, and he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1946.
In November 1947 he transferred to Her Majesty Treasury, and was the Treasury"s representative in India, Burma and Pakistan until 1950. Between 1950 and 1956 Potter was Assistant Secretary at Her Majesty Treasury.
His final posting was as a Counsellor in the United Kingdom Delegation to North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Paris from 1956 to his retirement in 1965.