Pott's "The strife is o'er, the battle done"( Victory) in The English Hymnal (1906)Īs a scholar of classical languages, Pott was able to translate Latin and Syriac liturgical texts into English verse. 1957), the composer of the corpus of sacred choral and organ music sometimes misattributed to his ancestor. Owing to his involvement with the music and hymnody of the Anglican Church, Pott is frequently confused with his namesake and relative Francis Pott (b. Francis Pott died at Speldhurst on 26 October 1909. He went to live at the Birchetts, Speldhurst in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where he continued in his hymn-writing work. In 1891, Pott was forced to resign from active work as a priest due to his increasing deafness.
(In this context Northill is sometimes confused with the parish of Norhill in Cambridgeshire.) In 1866 he was appointed Rector of Northill in Bedfordshire.
In 1856 he was ordained into the Anglican priesthood, initially serving as a curate in Bishopsworth, Gloucestershire (1856-8), before going on to serve in Ardingly, Berkshire from 1858 to 1861 and subsequently in Ticehurst, Sussex from 1861 to 1866. Pott studied classical languages at Brasenose College, Oxford when Edward Bouverie Pusey was an influential figure in the Oxford Movement, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1854 and obtaining his Master's degree in 1857. The family firm was later taken over by Francis's brother, Robert Pott. His father was the proprietor of the family business, the Potts Vinegar factory (the site occupied today by the Sumner Buildings housing estate), and Francis grew up in a neighbouring house. Francis Pott was born in Southwark, London, the great-grandson of the surgeon Percivall Pott.