John Samuel Potts (12 August 1861 – 28 April 1938) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom who served a Member of Parliament (MP) for twelve years between 1922 and 1938.
While chairing a Liberal election meeting during this by-election, Potts said in the presence of Walton that he would favour a labour party at a time when state payment of MPs, and of official election expenses would enable working men to be maintained in Parliament but until then, "the Liberal Party was the working man’s only hope".
[3] In 1905, Potts switched sides, and began working with the Independent Labour Party, against both Walton and the leadership of the Yorkshire Miners' Association (YMA).
[3] Ten years later, Potts was elected as treasurer of the YMA,[4] and became a member of the executive committee of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.
His illness and death have been connected with the shock he received when the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Pit Disaster occurred two years earlier.