Potter was born in 1772 and in 1786, at the age of 14, he enlisted in the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards.
[3] During his service he was unhappy with the training and quality of the musical recruits coming into the regiment.
He took it upon himself to write bugle, fife, and drum manuals to train his musicians.
Potter set up an instrument-making shop in King Street, Westminster in 1810 where he made horns, bugles, drums, trumpets, and fifes for military use under his son Henry's (b.
Samuel's third son George opened his own military instrument making shop and founded the company George Potter & Co., which bought his brothers' business in 1918 and continues to produce instruments in Aldershot under the Henry Potter name.