Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I recently encountered the term "potted biography." Searching the internet, I found a lot of items designated as potted biographies -- as far as I can tell they are concise biographies such as you might find in an almanac or on encyclopedia. I did not find, however, a complete definition or an origin for the phrase. Does anyone have any ideas? Based on the items I pulled up, I suspect the term is primarily British.