Francis Pottinger

Francis Henry Pottinger (b. 20 April 1875, Gletness, Nesting, d. 24 December 1918, Edinburgh) was a commission agent and County Councillor for Cunningsburgh.

He worked first in The Shetland Times office, and later as a compositor in Edinburgh. While there he became a member of the Social Democratic Federation. He returned to Lerwick, to work again at The Shetland Times, and after a serious illness worked for his relative John W. Robertson as a commission agent. He was elected to Lerwick School Board in 1904 as a socialist, and soon became chairman of it. He was a main actor in the formation of a branch of the Social Democratic Federation in Lerwick in 1905. He became a County Councillor in 1910, and served on many committees. During the war he became chairman of the Mainland District Committee. Plagued by poor health he died in Edinburgh on Christmas eve, 1918, aged 43.

At the next County Council meeting the convener remarked: ‘For the attainment of a satisfactory housing scheme [in Lerwick] no one wrought harder than he and, indeed, his last work on earth was to accompany … myself to the Local Government Board Office [in Edinburgh], where he put before them the whole housing problem, and afterwards drafted the report which will be submitted to you today. That report, gentlemen, is a pathetic document, for at the end there is an unsigned space that will not now be completed, for he had “crossed the bar” before it was ready for signature, and it will remain in our archives as a perpetual reminder of a valiant and brave soul, who, notwithstanding the knowledge that the angel of death was hovering near … struggled on to the very last to fulfil his public duty.’

Political Career

• County Council Election December 1910
• County Council Election December 1913

External Links

• Bayanne genealogy page

Zetland County Council
Preceded by Charles Stout	Member for Cunningsburgh 1910-1919	Succeeded by Laurence Anderson