205729 L/Cpl. George Potts British Army 4th Btn Worcestershire Regiment (d.28th Jun 1915) George Potts was my great uncle. He was killed in Gallipoli on the 28th of June 1915, pobably during the attack on Gulley Ravine but, little more is known. He served in the 4th Battalion The Worcestershire Regiment.
George had an unusual history. His parents, George Benjamin and Clara Potts, were both from Kent being born in Faversham and Barming (near Maidstone) respectively.
The Potts family, near Faversham, were numerous. It is understood many converted to the Mormon faith during the second half of the 19th Century. This faith lead them to emigrate to the USA. George and Clara Potts did live near the Salt Lake City in the USA. Their son also named George was born there in 1890.
For reasons unknown, George and Clara left the USA, settling back in England eventually moving to Maidstone Kent. Their son George was registered in the 1901 census as being born in the USA.
George Potts (Junior) was thus a US citizen and may have been the first to have died in the Great War.
We would like to know more but, the above is all that is known.
Additional Information: | George Potts (your great-uncle I'm sure) is commemorated in St Michael and All Angels Church Maidstone. At the time of the 1911 census his family lived at 11 Hartnup Street, which is in the parish (though George was by that time with his regiment in India), and although perhaps they were still Mormons the parish Church did try to gather up all the names of the war dead from the parish, whether they were C of E or not. I have been trying to research some of the stories behind the names and your great-uncle's is one of the most interesting.Eleanor Relle
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