Firefighter who died as a result of a fire at Compton Road, N1.
Derek Thomas Potts was born on 28 May 1946 in Islington, London, the youngest of the three children of Frederick Arthur Potts (1908-1981) and Ellen Percy Potts née Prince (1914-1992). His birth was registered as Derrick Thomas Potts in the 2nd quarter of 1946 in the Finsbury Registration District, London. His two siblings were: Eileen F. Potts (1936-2001) and Ronald Frederick Potts (1937-2007).
Electoral registers from 1967 to 1969 show him listed with his parents at 9 Riceyman House, Margery Street, London, WC1.
He was recorded as Derek T. Potts in the Civil Registration Marriage Index when he married Patricia J. Oliver (b.1948) in the 3rd quarter of 1968 in the Poplar Registration District, London. They were to have two children, a boy and a girl.
Electoral registers in 1970 and 1971 show him and his wife listed at 246 Farringdon Road Buildings, Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3BS and in 1971 and 1972 at 32 Derby Road, Enfield, Greater London. Telephone directories show him as Potts, D.T. at 32 Derby Road, Enfield, from 1979.
His death, aged 37 years, was registered as Derrick Thomas Potts in the 2nd quarter of 1983 in the Hackney Registration District, London.
The Fire Brigade Union's Red Plaque website states that: 'A member of the Blue Watch at Islington Fire Station, Derek ‘Ginger’ Potts was 37 years old when he collapsed and died of a heart attack while fighting a blaze at 44 Compton Road, Islington.
Derek had gone into the heavily smoke-logged three-storey building to extinguish the fire and had then returned when it was thought the elderly woman who lived there might still be inside. Once he was out of the building, he collapsed and was taken to Hackney Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Prior to the fire at Compton Road, Derek had attended a residential flat fire in a tower block where he was involved in an arduous close support role immediately behind the Breathing Apparatus firefighting crew. Initially, Derek’s name was not placed automatically on the Roll of Honour because his death was not, at the time, thought of as having fallen in the category of ‘killed on duty’. After representations by Derek’s former colleagues still serving at Islington Fire Station, the Chief Fire Officer concluded that the strenuous nature of his participation in two jobs within two hours may have contributed to his heart attack and so he was added to the Roll of Honour in 1997'.
He is shown as 'Fm. Derek Thomas Potts' on the Highgate Cemetery - Fire - R12 - Potts plaque in Highgate Cemetery, Swain's Lane, London, N6 and as 'Derek Potts' on the Red Plaque inside Islington Fire Station, 278 Upper Street, London, N1 2TZ. He is also commemorated on Firefighters Remembered website and his name appears on the National Firefighters Memorial in Sermon Lane, London, EC4.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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