Benjamin (Ben) Potter was born in Horley Surrey, on the 14th April 1876, the son of Nathaniel, a tailor by profession, and Jane Potter of Victoria House, Victoria Road, Horley.
He engaged as a waiter in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at New York, on 30th April 1915 at a monthly waiter's rate of £4.05s.00d, (£4.25.), for her final voyage across the Atlantic. It proved to be a fateful decision for him as he was killed when she was sunk, exactly a week later. He was aged 39 years.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards and as a result, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England and Wales, 1891 Census of England and Wales, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Cunard Records, UniLiv. D92/6/1, PRO BT 334.