Inspector-General Robert Pottinger entered the Royal Navy as an Assistant-Surgeon aboard H.M.S. Druid in May 1839, in which ship he served off China in the First Opium War. Advanced to Surgeon in December 1847, he saw further service off China and in the East Indies prior to joining H.M.S. Blenheim in late 1854, and was subsequently present in her during the Baltic operations of 1854-55. Enjoying several more seagoing appointments over the next decade, Pottinger was advanced to Staff Surgeon in late 1862 and to Deputy Inspector-General in late 1868. He retired as an Inspector-General in March 1878.