Robert Potter (1721–1804)

Rev. Robert Potter (1721 – 9 August 1804) was an English clergyman of the Church of England, translator, poet and pamphleteer. He established the convention of using blank verse for Greek hexameters and rhymed verse for choruses. His 1777 English version of the plays of Aeschylus was the only one available for the next fifty years.

Potter was born in Podimore, Somerset, the third son of John Potter (fl. 1676–1723), a prebendary of Wells Cathedral. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and graduated BA in 1742, when he was also ordained. He married the daughter of Rev. Colman of Hardingham. His children included a daughter Sarah, referred to in a letter. He became curate of Reymerston and vicar of Melton Parva, but the combined emoluments of these were less than £50 a year. He later became curate of Scarning, Norfolk, as well as master of Seckar's School there from 1761 to 1789, but spent much of his time writing and translating. Among his pupils was Jacob Mountain (1749–1825), the first Anglican bishop of Quebec.

In 1788, Lewis Bagot, Bishop of Norwich, presented Potter as vicar to the combined parishes of Lowestoft and Kessingland, Suffolk, and as a prebendary of Norwich Cathedral, through the patronage of Lord Chancellor Lord Thurlow, who had attended Seckar's School. According to one story, Thurlow and Potter had been schoolfellows at Seckar's, which seems unlikely as Potter was ten years his junior. For whatever reason, when Potter approached Thurlow to ask for a £10 subscription to his Sophocles translation, he received the valuable cathedral stall instead.

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