Edward Potts

• Birth : 4 March 1839 Bolton Street, Bury, Lancashirethe younger son of Edward Potts, draper, and his wife Mary (nee Diggle)
• Marriage : 31 July 1861 Sarah Ackroyd
• Death : 15th April, 1909,at Quorndon, Brackley Road, Monton Green,
• Burial : Chadderton Cemetery, Oldham.

Edward Potts was born at Bolton Street, Bury, Lancashire, on 2 March 1839, the younger son of Edward Potts, a draper, and his wife, Mary, née Diggle. He was educated locally before being articled to George Woodhouse, architect, of Bolton from 1854 and in the London office of John Pritchard and John Pollard Seddon about 1860-1861. In 1861 Potts went into partnership with George Woodhouse at 18 Clegg Street, Oldham. The partnership was not straightforward and appears to have related only to the arrangement regarding the Oldham office, with George Woodhouse continuing to work on his own account in Bolton. Such an arrangement thus increased his profit with relatively little effort. It was a partnership arrangement which Edward Potts would later employ including the partnership with George Woodhouse’s son. The partnership was formally dissolved in 1872 although Potts and Woodhouse subsequently collaborated on the designs for an extension to Oldham Town Hall.

He ranks with P S Stott as the greatest mill architect of Victorian Lancashire. On his death he was described as "the architect of more spinning mills in this and other countries than perhaps any other firm".  He is credited with the design of more than 200 mills.  In the 1870s He secured custom not merely by subscribing from 1871 to more shares than any other architect in the new “Oldham Limiteds” but also by actively promoting the flotation of such companies. Thus he became a pioneer of the contractors' company, which was formed by a group of tradesmen with a direct interest in the construction, equipment, and supply of a new cotton mill.

Potts was always more than just a mill architect. While in partnership with George Woodhouse at the ourset of his career in the 1860s he had designed numerous non- conformist chapels. Other works included Oldham Infirmary, the town hall extension at Oldham, Blackpool Town Hall and the final phase of rebuilding of the Corn Exchange Manchester

In 1880 Potts entered onto partnership with his fellow Methodists George Pickup and Frederick William Dixon under the style or firm of Potts, Pickup, and Dixon. He became a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1888. Following the departure of F W Dixon to set up on his own account, Edward Potts admitted his son William Edward, into partnership, the practice continuing under the style of Potts, Son and Pickup until 1898, notwithstanding that George Pickup had died in 1891. At the same time he was separately developing a London office with Arthur Hennings, a Bolton office with G H Woodhouse, and an office at Lille France. In 1899 Arthur W Hennings was finally promoted to full partner in the practice and moved to Manchester, the practice being re-named Potts, Son, and Hennings.

On 31 July 1861 he married Sarah (1838-1898), the daughter of William Ackroyd; they had at least three sons and seven daughters. The family moved from Oldham to Bowdon in 1877 and then to Eccles in 1891. Wherever he resided he played an active part in public life. The causes of better education, better health, and temperance attracted his support. In Oldham he served as a director of the Lyceum (1862-70). In Bowdon he promoted the building of a Methodist chapel. For forty years he served as a Sunday school teacher, and he also held every office the Methodist church could offer a lay member.  In Eccles he was a Liberal member of the borough council (1902-1905), the first chairman of its library committee in 1904, and a JP (1906).  In 1906 he secured a grant of £7500 from Andrew Carnegie to finance the construction of a public library which he then designed free of charge

Edward Potts died at his home, Quorndon, Brackley Road, Monton, near Eccles, on 15 April 1909. He was buried in Chadderton cemetery, Oldham, on 17 April.

Address
1860-1872 :  Woodhouse and Potts 18 Clegg Street Oldham
1872-1878 : Edward Potts 18 Clegg Street Oldham
1879 : Edward Potts, 1 Princess Street Manchester and 18 Clegg Street Oldham
1880-1889 : Potts Pickup & Dixon 1, Princess Street Manchester and 18 Clegg Street, Oldham
1890-1899 : Potts Son & Pickup. 34 Victoria Buildings Victoria Street Manchester
1899-1909: Potts Son and Hennings 34 Victoria Buildings, Victoria Street Manchester

Residence
1871 : Edward Potts, 82 Windsor Road, Oldham, Lancashire
1881-1891 : Edward Potts. "The Gorse" Vicarage Lane Bowdon (Census Return)
1895 : Edward Potts. "Highfield," Cavendish Road, Ellesmere Park Eccles
1896-1899 : Edward Potts. "The Beeches," Ellesmere Park Eccles
1900-1909 : Edward Potts. "Quorndon," Brackley Road, Monton Green Eccles

Obituary Notices
Reference    Manchester Guardian 16 April 1909 page 9
Reference    Building News 23 April 1909 Page 629
Reference    Manchester City News Saturday 17 April 1909. Page 7 Column 7
Reference    The Architect and Contract Reporter 23 April 1909. Page 280
Reference    Oldham Chronicle 17 April 1909 page 12 col 7