| William Alexander Potts | |
| Birth Date: | Rugby |
| Birth Place: | 1 May 1866 |
| Death Place: | Edgbaston |
| Occupation: | Pharmacologist, medical writer |
William Alexander Potts (1 May 1866 – 23 July 1939) M.D., M.R.C.S. was a British pharmacologist, physician and medical writer.
Potts was born at Rugby on 1 May 1866.[1] He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and University of Edinburgh. He graduated M.B. in 1895 and M.D. with honours in 1898.[1]
Potts began his scientific career at East Riding Mental Hospital and later went into general practice where he remained for twenty years.[2] He was resident medical officer at East Riding Mental Hospital, resident surgeon to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and resident physician to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.[1] He was appointed chief medical investigator for the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded in 1906. Potts was active in promoting the passage of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913.[1]
He was a medical adviser to Birmingham Mental Deficiency Committee and assisted the police courts with cases of mental deficiency. He was a medical adviser to the Royal Albert Institution.[2] Potts was assistant lecturer in pharmacology at the University of Birmingham. Potts co-authored Mentally Deficient Children: Their Treatment and Training with G. E. Shuttleworth. The book was positively reviewed and went through many editions.[3] [4] [5]