Diameter: 52cm (20.5in)
Wood cylinder, painted hoops, leather tabs with rope tensioning. Emblazoned with light infantry bugle and strings surmounted by a King’s Crown. Battle Honours from Salamanca to Afghanistan 1919. Maker’s label of George Potter & Company of Aldershot.
George Potter & Co of Aldershot was an off shoot of the London based military drum and instrument maker Henry Potter of Charing Cross that was established by Samuel Potter (1772-1836) in 1810. Samuel, a drum-major in the Coldstream Guards, named his business for his new born son Henry and worked in the business at 20 King Street, Westminster, after leaving the Army on 1817. Henry (1810-1876) carried on his father’s business at 37 Marsham Street, and later a 2 Bridge Street, before moving to 30 Charing Cross in 1858. In 1868 Henry’s brother George established George Potter & Co., at Bank Street, Aldershot. In 1918 George Potter of Aldershot opened the well know shop at the intersection of Aldershot’s Queen’s Road and Grosvenor Road, aka Potter’s Corner, which continued drum making in the traditional manner until the introduction of rod tensioned and transfer decorated drums in the 1960s.