NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS AND TRAGEDIES
ALBERT WILLIAM POTTER
NEW ZEALANDS FIRST AMBULANCE OFFICER'S DEATH
TUESDAY 27 OCTOBER 1931
From - Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 255, 28 October 1931, Page 10
St. John Ambulance Corps Officer Albert William POTTER, aged 62, of Auckland, was killed instantly when a St. John Ambulance crashed over a 30ft bank on the way to Hunua, ten miles from Papakura. The driver of the vehicle, Mr. Peter HATTON, waa injured slightly about the head.
The ambulance was on the way to get a patient for transport to Auckland. No one saw the accident. When travelling up a slight incline, the ambulance crashed over a bank which fell away steeply from the road. The bank is covered with scrub. After crashing through the scrub and a fence, the ambulance came to rest on its side in a paddock.
Mr Potter was under the vehicle. There was nobody about to give help, and the driver went to the nearest telephone to inform the Auckland headquarters of the accident. Meanwhile, Dr. G W LOCK, of Papakura, who was attending the patient, became concerned because the ambulance did not arrive, and he also rang Auckland. He learned about the accident and was told that another ambulance had been sent to Hunua. Later the patient was brought to Auckland.
Born at sea while hie parents were on their way from England to New Zealand, Albert William Potter spent practically all his life in Auckland. In his early life, he was engaged in the printing business, but later worked as a wood machinist for a number of Auckland firms' and the Public Works Department. During the Great War he served in Samoa and France and after the war he acted as a masseur for returned soldiers at King George Hospital, Rotorua. For 37 years. Mr. Potter was connected with the St. John Ambulance, and this was his great hobby. At the end of last year he resigned from the brigade when his wife was ill but he was persuaded to remain with the brigade, and a short time later was appointed corps officer. He was also a member of the Auckland executive committee.
When the Hawke's Bay earthquake happened, Mr. Potter left immediately for Napier and was in charge of the Auckland division down there. Mr Potter was prominent in the Boy Scout movement in the Auckland Province for a number of years as an ambulance instructor. Mr. Potter's wife died at the end of last year. He is survived by one son, Mr. Ernest Potter, and one daughter, Mrs. Una Hayward.
Mr Potter was given an full St John Ambulance Service funeral and was buried at the Hillsborough Cemetery, Auckland. The Auckland Star of the 30 October 1931, Page 11, carried a report of the funeral service.
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