Harry Potvine is listed in casualty reports as a Sergeant-Major on Gallipoli in 1915, where he was wounded in the arm. His rise to the rank of Captain by the end of the war seems to have been the result of exceptional competence in his job.
MEN WHO HAVE FALLEN
SERGEANT-MAJOR H. A. POTVINE.
A private cablegram was received yesterday, stating that Sergeant-Major H. A. Potvine, Army Service Corps, who was reported on May 28 to have been wounded, is in hospital in Alexandria. He has a wound in the right forearm, and is making satisfactory progress towards recovery. -NZ Herald, 1/7/1915.
Harry Potvine was made an officer in early 1917 and, as an officer, was awarded the Military Cross a few months later.
WEDDING.
POTVINE — COUTTS. On Wednesday, October 20, a very pretty wedding was celebrated in Te Kuiti, when Mr H. A. Potvine, of Wellington, was married to Miss Eleanor Coutts, second daughter of Mr and Mrs Hugh Coutts. Both bridge and bridegroom had been on active service. The bride was on the nursing staff at the New Zealand hospitals of Brockenhurst and Oaklands, and the bridegroom left in the ranks with the Main Body, and served right through the war, attaining the rank of captain, and winning the military medal.
The ceremony took place in St. Luke's Church, and the vicar (Rev. G. R. Barnett) officiated. Friends of the bride had decorated the interior which presented a very attractive appearance. The bride, who was given away by her father, wore an embroidered white silk frock, with the usual veil and orange blossoms, and carried a bouquet of white flowers. She was attended by her sister, Miss P. Coutts, who wore a pastel blue crepe-de-chine frock, trimmed with primrose colour, with hat en suite and a bouquet in primrose shades. The bridegroom was attended by an army friend, Mr E. Jenkins, as best man.
Mrs Coutts wore a silver grey shanting coat and skirt, with black lace hat, and carried a lavender bouquet. Mrs Parkinson, a sister of the bride, wore a floral voile in pink and lavender, with bouquet to match. Another sister, Mrs H. B. Davenport, wore a frock of pink crepe-de-chine, with black hat.
After the ceremony the wedding breakfast was served at the home of the bride's parents, many friends of the family being present.
Mr and Mrs Potvine left for their future home in Wellington by the first express, the bride's travelling dress being a grey gabardine costume with a blue hat. -King Country Chronicle, 30/10/1920.
CENTRAL DEPOT, ARMY SERVICE CORPS.
THE Next Parade of the above Unit will be held in the DRILL YARD, BUCKLE STREET. Wellington, on SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1923.
Fall-in, 1.30 p.m. sharp. Absolutely no leave whatever will be granted from this Parade.
H. A. POTVINE, Captain, Commanding Central Depot, N.Z.A.S.C. -Dominion, 23/2/1923.
Through the mid-1920s, H A Potvine is reported as refereeing boxing matches in the North Island. He seems at this time to have left the army and is no longer referred to by his rank of Captain. In 1927, he is reported as achieving some success on the golf course:
To the list of holes-in-one, Richmond Hill has added another, H. A. Potvine, a visitor to the club from Auckland, holed his tee shot in the third hole, a distance of 214 yards. This is a blind hole, and another player who was about to hole a short putt was greatly surprised when Potvine's ball fell into the hole before his eyes. -Press, 4/7/1927.
But the 1920s were not all good for him.
BANKRUPT SALESMAN.
DEBTS £1689, ASSETS NIL.
A LIQUIDATED COMPANY.
Unsecured debts totalling £16.89 17s 3d and no assets were shown in the bankrupt estate of Harry Archer Potvine, formerly of New Plymouth, a meeting of whose creditors was held yesterday at the office of the Deputy Official Assignee (Mr. J. S. S. Medley). Bankrupt is now employed in Auckland as a wine and spirit salesman. After his examination the meeting was adjourned sine die. The D. said he could see little prospect of the creditors being paid.
Present at the meeting were bankrupt and his solicitor (Mr. P. Grey), who also held proxies for three of the larger creditors, Mr. Blair, for the New Zealand Express Company, and Mr. Brokenshire, for Standish and Anderson. Mr. Medley presided.
Unsecured creditors were: New Zealand Express Company, New Plymouth, £47 14s; Mrs. Gayton, boardinghouse keeper, New Plymouth, £1 6s 6d; Standish and Anderson, solicitors, New Plymouth, £l4 3s; Holton, garage proprietors, Paekakariki, £5 3s 8d; Barbers' Garage, Petone, £8 2s 6d; Mrs. Preston, c/o Preston and Co., Wellington, £5 5s; Dr. Isaacs, Wellington, £4 4s; Arthur’s Furnishing Co., New Plymouth, £2 2s 6d; H. G. Brodie, solicitor, Hawera, £1 19s; Dr. Buist, Hawera, £1 1ls 6d; White’s, Ltd., New Plymouth, £1 7s 8d; Trustees of the late W. D. Powdrell Hawera, £600; Mrs. E. Coutts, Devonport, £450; Mrs. E. Parkinson, Devonport, £150; B. McCarthy, solicitor, Hawera, £120; W. H. Edwards and Son, Wellington, £l85 16s; Repatriation Department, £65 9s 3d; L. Quinlan, Wellington, £25 12s 8d.
After five and a-half years at the war in the Army Service Corps, bankrupt said he joined the Defence Department. He was unsuccessful in this and was advised to go into business. In June, 1920, he formed the Invicta Clothing Manufacturing Company, of Wellington, in which he agreed to take up 1500 shares. Mr. W. D. Powdrell consented to finance him and advanced £600. Of this bankrupt put £375 into the business and the balance into a house in Wellington.
He met three calls by the company amounting to £845, but he was unable to pay others, and eventually owed the company £655, the balance of the £l500. The company went into liquidation in 1923.
The sum of £1320 was advanced by Mr. Powdrell, Mrs. Parkinson, Mrs. Coutts and Mr. McCarthy between them and this was distributed approximately as follows: — Invicta Company, £845; deposit on house and expenses, £225; papering, £98; furniture, £150. On the company going into liquidation he received nothing except some wages. A mortgage on the house amounted to £l200 and he had reduced this to £l000 when he had to surrender the property.
Bankrupt said that he obtained a position in Wellington but gave this up four months later to sell salt and dairy requisites in Taranaki. His headquarters were at Hawera. Three months later he had a disagreement with his principal, and sued him, but got nothing. For about two years he sold cars in New Plymouth, hardly making a living. At the end of 1925 he joined an Auckland flax company, but nothing came of this and he was unemployed until he received his present appointment at £5 16s a week. He had a wife and child, aged four. His life insurance for £2000 had lapsed, bankrupt told the D.O.A. He could make no immediate offer to his creditors, except that he intended to pay them as soon as he could.
In answer to further questions bankrupt said he was forced to file because the New Zealand Express Company had obtained judgment for his removal expenses from Wellington. The large sums advanced by the late Mr. Powdrell and others were not secured and were made to help him out in the Wellington company. The lenders were his wife’s relatives. Had Mr. Powdrell been alive the trouble would not have occurred, he thought, because he would have received the balance of the £l500 to put into the Invicta Company.
Mr. Brokenshire suggested that bankrupt might concentrate on paying the small creditors. It was hopeless about the others. -Taranaki Daily News, 12/6/1926.
Eleanor, his wife, also had some success on the golf course.
The final of the Richmond Hill senior ladies' championship played yesterday over thirty-six holes between Mrs H. A. Potvine and Mrs E. L. Young, resulted in a win for Mrs Potvine by 5 and 4, Mrs Potvine’s success was due mainly to extremely accurate putting, which may be gauged by the fact that in the morning round she had only one putt on nine greens and throughout the match did not take more than two putts on any green. At the end of the morning round Mrs Potvine was 7 up. Her stroke round was approximately 86, and apart from two bad holes, Mrs Young’s golf had also been very steady, although lacking her opponent’s brilliance on the greens. After lunch Mrs Potvine increased her lead to 9 up, but by fighting hard Mrs Young won back five holes, and was 4 down with six holes to play. The game ended on the thirty-second green, where Mrs Potvine won by 5 up and 4. -Star, 16/9/1931.
In 1932, Harry and Eleanor were living in Dunedin - Harry's Buick was stolen from Eglinton Rd and involved in a fatal accident. At this time, he is going by the name of Henri Arnaud Potvine, possibly an attempt to add some French cachet to his business as a traveler in wines and spirits.
'WAITING FOR LEFTY' SEASON
LITTLE THEATRE SOCIETY PRODUCTIONS (excerpt)
The Dunedin Little Theatre Society’s productions under the directorship of Miss Madge Yates have been noteworthy alike for accomplished performance and a desire to investigate the trend of the modern drama in both its artistic and sociological aspects.
Striking performances in this play are those of Claude Grey and Sidney Lock, as the rival officers of the Nazi high command, while Henri Potvine, as the brutal detective, and Arthur Burns, in a part that requires exceptional versatility, turn in more than competent representations. In ‘Waiting for Lefty’ Henri Potvine, is excellently cast, in the role of the union leader, who is dominating a meeting of New York taxi drivers, with a gunman, Ian Jamieson, to lend the authority of lead to his arguments against striking. -Evening Star, 4/12/1937.
TRAGEDY AT RANFURLY
DUNEDIN MAN FOUND DEAD
GUN DISCOVERED NEAR BODY
Henri Arnaud Potvine, a well-known Dunedin commercial traveller, dealing in wines and spirits, was found dead under distressing circumstances at Ranfurly this morning. The deceased was found at 5 a.m. in his car in a garage at the rear of the Ranfurly Hotel. The top of his head had been blown off, and a doublebarrelled sports gun was found nearby. Immediately upon the receipt of the news Detective-sergeant Hall was despatched to investigate. Deceased was well known in Dunedin and had many friends. He was a prominent member of the Little Theatre Society, and he appeared in several of that society’s productions. He resided at 145 Kenmure road, Mornington, and leaves a wife and one child. -Evening Star, 15/6/1938.
FUNERAL NOTICE.
THE Friends of the late Harry Archer Potvine are respectfully invited to attend his Funeral, which will leave our Mortuary Chapel, Clarke street, on SATURDAY, the 18th inst., at 10 a.m., for the Anderson’s Bay Cemetery.
HUGH GOURLEY LTD., Funeral Directors. -Evening Star, 17/7/1938.
ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES
DUNEDIN MAN'S DEATH
INQUEST AT RANFURLY
(Special to Daily Times) RANFURLY, July 6. The adjourned inquest into the death of Henri Arnaud Potvine, a commercial traveller, of Dunedin, was concluded at the Ranfurly Hospital to-day before Mr G. F. Scott, J.P., acting as coroner, and a jury of four. After hearing the evidence a verdict that the deceased had committed suicide by shooting himself with a shotgun was returned.
George Alexander Philip, a barman employed at the Ranfurly Hotel, gave evidence in which he stated that he had found the body of the deceased while on his way to work. He had immediately informed William Helm, a barman at the same hotel, who had got in touch with Constable Murphy. .
Dr D'Ath, who conducted a postmortem, stated that an examination of the body showed that the top of the skull had been blown off by a discharge from a shotgun, the gun having been placed in direct contact with the skin over the left eye. Several pellets were embedded in the base of the skull, and numerous fractures were visible on the remaining portion of the skull. There was also a wound in the wall of the left chest about an inch and a-half in diameter. This wound could be traced around beneath the chest wall in an outward and downward direction, terminating about six inches below the original wound. From his examination he was of the opinion that the deceased had committed suicide by discharging a shotgun against his left chest, and as this failed to injure any vital structure, the deceased had reloaded the gun and discharged it against his forehead, the charge blowing off the top of his skull and dislodging the brain. Death would be instantaneous.
William Helm stated that the deceased had been playing cards in the hotel on the evening prior to the tragedy, the first news of which he had received from the witness.
Philip William Pringle stated that the deceased had previously informed him that he always carried a gun in his car.
Charles Parnell, a barman at the Ranfurly Hotel, stated that he had known the deceased for a number of years. Prior to his death he had remarked to the deceased that he looked worried, and had been told in answer that "things were not too bright." The deceased had also stated that he felt like getting out of it, for he had been neglecting his business and had a big debt to meet on the following Monday, and did not know where the money was to come from to meet it.
Detective Sergeant Hall said that certain correspondence found among the deceased's belongings indicated that he was in financial difficulties and ill-health.
In accordance with the evidence of Dr D'Ath, a verdict was returned that the deceased had committed suicide with a shotgun in the backyard of the Ranfurly Hotel. -Otago Daily Times, 7/7/1938.
Eleanor Potvine died in 1984 and was buried in Harry's plot.
No comments:
Post a Comment