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 fifth son of Eldred Curwen Pottinger, a descendant of the Pottingers of Berkshire. His mother was Anne, daughter of Robert Gordon, esq., of Florida Manor, co. Down. He was educated at the Belfast academy, which he left when only twelve years old, and went to sea. In 1803 he proceeded to India to join the marine service there, but friends induced Lord Castlereagh in 1804 to substitute for that appointment a cadetship in the native army. Meanwhile he studied in Bombay, and acquired a knowledge of the native languages. He worked well, became an assistant teacher, and on 18 Sept. 1806 was made an ensign, being promoted lieutenant on 16 July 1809.

In 1808 Pottinger was sent on a mission to Sind under Hankey Smith, brother of Sir Lionel Smith. In 1809, when Sir John Malcolm's mission to Persia was postponed, Pottinger and a friend, Captain Charles Christie, offered to explore the country between India and Persia in order to acquire information which was then much wanted. Government accepted the offer. The travellers, disguised as natives, accompanied by a native horse-dealer and two servants, left Bombay on 2 Jan. 1810, journeying by sea to Sind, and thence by land to Khelát. Though immediately recognised as Europeans, and even as having belonged to the embassy at Sind, they safely reached Núshkí, near the boundary between Afghánistán and Balúchistan; here Christie diverged northwards to Herát, and proceeded thence by Yezd to Ispahan, while Pottinger, keeping in a westerly direction, travelled through Kirman (Carmania) to Shiráz, and joined Christie at Ispahan. There Christie was directed to remain, and he was killed in a Russian attack on the Persians in 1812. Pottinger, returning viâ Bagdad and Bussorah, reached Bombay in February 1811. He reported the results of his journey, and in 1816 they were published under the title of ‘Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde.’

He was next appointed to the staff of Sir Evan Nepean [q. v.], governor of Bombay, by whom he was sent as assistant to Mountstuart Elphinstone [q. v.], the British resident at Poona. On 15 Oct. 1821 he was made captain. He served during the Mahratta war, and at its close became collector of Ahmadnagar. He obtained his majority on 1 May 1825, and in the same year he was made resident in Cutch. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 17 March 1829, and brevet colonel on 23 Jan. 1834. While resident in Cutch he conducted a mission to Sind in 1831, and subsequently, in 1836, he was appointed political agent in that country, which office he held until 1840, when he was compelled by ill-health to return to England. His success as political agent, and especially in arranging with the Sind ameers for the passage of the Bombay troops, under Sir John Keane, on their way to Afghanistan, was recognised in India and in England, and he was made a baronet on 27 April 1840.

Sir Henry accepted Lord Palmerston's offer of the post of envoy and plenipotentiary in China and superintendent of British trade, thus superseding Captain Charles Elliot [q. v.] A war—known as the opium war—had broken out between England and China in January 1840. It originated in the exclusion by the Chinese government of British opium-traders from Canton. After Captain Elliot, the British representative, had seized the forts about Canton, a preliminary treaty had been drawn up in January 1841, but it was subsequently disavowed by both the Chinese and English governments. Palmerston directed Pottinger to replace this treaty by a satisfactory compact, which should open China to British trade. But before his arrival in China the arrogance of the Chinese had led to a renewal of hostilities. Sir Hugh Gough [q. v.] carried anew the forts about Canton in May 1841, and while he was preparing to attack the town itself, Pottinger reached Macao (9 Aug.). He deemed it essential to the success of his pacific mission to make a further display of force, and he co-operated with Gough and Admiral Sir William Parker (1781–1866) [q. v.] in the capture of Amoy, Chusan, Chintu, and Ningpo. On 13 June 1842 he, with Parker, entered the Yangtze-Kiang river with the object of taking Nanking. After many successes by the way, an assault on that city was imminent in July, when Pottinger announced that the Chinese were ready to treat for peace on a satisfactory basis. The Chinese diplomatists had already found that Pottinger could not be trifled with. An intercepted letter from the chief Chinese negotiator to his government now bore testimony that ‘to all his representations the barbarian, Pottinger, only knit his brows and said “No.”’ Eventually peace was signed on 29 Aug. 1842 on board H.M.S. Cornwallis before Nanking. By this treaty—known as the treaty of Nanking—Hongkong was ceded to England, and the five ports Canton, Amoy, Foochow-Foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai were opened to English traders, and were to receive English consuls. In consideration of his exertions Pottinger was made G.C.B. (2 Dec. 1842), and on 5 April 1843 was appointed the first British governor of Hongkong.

Pottinger returned to England in the