Richard Potenger, of Reading and

Compton, Berkshire Compton is a village and civil parish in the River Pang valley in the Berkshire Downs about south of Didcot which is buffered from neighbouring settlements by cultivated fields to all sides. The village is in a gently-sloped dry valley and ...

, (c.1690–1739) was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1727 to 1739. Potenger was the eldest son of Nicholas Potenger of

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a village hall. Outside its grouped developed area is an ...

, Berkshire, and the Inner Temple. He was admitted at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1704 and matriculated at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

on 20 October 1705, aged 15. In 1711 he was called to the bar. He married Anne Mason in April 1714. He came into the family properties of Maidenhatch, in Pangbourne, and in Compton. Potenger was appointed Recorder of Reading in 1720 and he held the role for the rest of his life. At the 1727 British general election, he was returned after a contest as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. He voted with the Administration on the Hessians in 1730 and on the army in 1732, but against on the

Excise Bill The Excise Bill of 1733 was a proposal by the British government of Robert Walpole to impose an excise tax on a variety of products. This would have allowed Customs officers to search private dwellings to look for contraband untaxed goods. The p ...

in 1733. He was returned in a contest at the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Robert Walpole's inc ...

. In 1735 he was appointed 2nd Justice of Chester, and was returned again for Reading without a contest at the ensuing by-election. Potenger died on 26 November 1739 leaving one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potenger, Richard 1690s births 1739 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741