On leaving the old Pietermaritzburg High School sometime around 1870, Charles Alfred Potter went into the Transvaal (now Gauteng), trading with his father, and also occupied his time as a book-keeper. When the Zulu War broke out in January 1879, he joined Lt-Col (later Major-General Sir) Evelyn Wood VC 's No. 4 Column as a captain. Having been allocated to the First Native Contingent under Major Leet, which followed Col Wood to Kambula, Capt Potter soon found himself acting as an interpreter and guide to Colonel Rowland's Column on the Swazi border. He was selected on several occasions as a special messenger to the Swazi King – interestingly, he had before the War been repeatedly employed by the Transvaal Government as a confidential messenger to the Zulu king, Cetshwayo.
On 28 March 1879, Capt Potter left Kambula Camp with Col Wood. Because on his extensive knowledge of the area, Potter was ordered by Wood to plan and lead a troop of Zulu auxiliary troops in their attack on Hlobane Hill. However, Potter and his men were ambushed by a marauding Zulu Impi whilst trying to negotiate a tricky gully during the Second Battle of Hlobane, and he was fatally wounded in the battle.
Capt Potter was on several occasions mentioned in dispatches and was referred to by name by General Wood in his public speeches on his return to England. As was later to be said of Potter, "Wherever he moved, he sustained the character of an upright gentleman, kind and courageous, beloved by his comrades in arms." The London Illustrated News described Capt Potter is as: "the sole hope of his parents, a gallant and intelligent colonial officer, beloved by the natives”, who used to refer to him only as ‘Charlie’.
After Charles' death- his father, George Potter, entered into a damages dispute with Lord Chelmsford regarding the use of his trading store during the Zulu conflict. George claims that cattle, meal and his store (Potter's Store on the Jag Pad near Hlobane) was taken from him just before the conflict and that he was not properly reimbursed. Chelmsford, after consulting Col Wood, told George Potter that Wood had paid Charles the necessary compensation. George didn’t seem to be convinced as he later published a derogatory pamphlet highlighting his losses and the indecent way in which the colonial authorities dealt with the matter.
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