The son of a
small arms manufacturer, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1854, and recorded many natural observations as well as species that were then new to science, such as the
black-billed gull and the
great spotted kiwi. In he was elected to the
Mount Herbert electorate after
William Sefton Moorhouse who had won the seat in the
1866 general election declined the seat. Potts retired from Parliament in 1870. In the 1860s and 1870s, Thomas Potts was an early campaigner for areas of New Zealand to be set aside as nature reserves to save many bird species from extinction, after the deforestation of large areas of mainland New Zealand. Potts owned
Ohinetahi for several years. ==References==