Thomas Bayley Potter

Thomas Bayley Potter DL, JP (29 November 1817 – 6 November 1898) was an English merchant in Manchester and Liberal Party politician. Early life Born in Polefield, Lancashire, he was the second son of Sir Thomas Potter and his wife Esther Bayley, daughter of Thomas Bayley, and younger brother of Sir John Potter. Potter received his early education in George Street, Manchester, then at Lant Carpenter's school in Bristol. He subsequently attended Rugby School under Thomas Arnold and then University College London. In business On graduating, Bayley went into the family business in Manchester. His father died in 1845, at Buile Hill, his home. His elder brother John, knighted in 1851, took over most of his father's role; the firm then traded as Potter & Norris. Thomas became the major partner in it when his brother Sir John died in 1858. He brought in as partner Francis Taylor (1818–1872), who had worked for Potter & Norris, around 1865, and the firm traded as Potter & Taylor. Not long after Taylor's death, Potter withdrew from business activity, to concentrate on politics. Liberal politics Potter became Chairman of the Manchester branch of the Complete Suffrage Society in 1830. While he was generally aligned with the Radicals, there was a rift between their leaders John Bright and Richard Cobden over the Crimean War, which the Potter brothers supported; and Sir John Potter successfully stood against Bright in 1857. Potter, who was in many ways a follower of Cobden, tried to smooth matters over at the end of the 1850s.