This article is about the historical parliamentary borough. For the prison role, see Potwalloper (prison).
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"A Pot-Walloper," Times cartoon of 1830: one politician addresses the scruffily-attired peasant voter, "The people of Britain possess the power to return an independent parliament if they will but exert it, think of that my noble pot-walloper"; on the right, another candidate says "Never mind Him I'll give you something to put in your pot," reflecting fears that poor voters would be easily bribed.
A potwalloper (sometimes potwalloner or potwaller) or householder borough was a parliamentary borough in which the franchise was extended to the male head of any household with a hearth large enough to boil a cauldron (or "wallop a pot").[1] Potwallopers existed in the Unreformed House of Commons prior to the Reform Act 1832, and in its predecessors the Irish House of Commons and House of Commons of Great Britain (until 1800) and the House of Commons of England (to 1707).[1]
Compared to other types of franchise used by unreformed House of Commons constituencies, potwalloper franchises generally resulted a larger proportion of the male population of the borough having the right to vote. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century there was a tendency to try and limit the number of eligible electors in potwalloper boroughs by either changing to another franchise or by disenfranchising poorer householders by excluding people supported by the parish through outdoor relief from voting.
^ abEdward Porritt, A. M. Kelley, The Unreformed House of Commons: Scotland and Ireland (1963), pp. 348, 354
A potwalloper (sometimes potwalloner or potwaller) or householder borough was a parliamentary borough in which the franchise was extended to the male...
Prison in 2016. However, the practice continues at Limerick Prison. A "potwalloper" was a trusty prisoner who made sure the buckets were emptied and cleaned...
Commons, with most voters being the owners of property, although in some potwalloper boroughs every male householder could vote. When assembled along with...
which male householders were electors (these were usually known as "potwalloper boroughs", as the usual definition of a householder was a person able...
landowners) could vote, while in boroughs the franchise varied from potwallopers, giving many residents votes, to rotten boroughs with hardly any voters...
were as follows: Householder boroughs These were commonly known as "potwalloper" boroughs, because (it was said) anyone who owned a hearth which could...
who owned property worth £10 or more. In some boroughs, the so-called potwallopers, this actually reduced the electorate as they had previously granted...
served as the secretary to Lord Deputy Chichester and represented the potwalloper constituency of Baltimore in the 1613 Irish Parliament. In addition to...
critical, stating that all ancient boroughs in Ireland were de jure potwallopers, under the common law as "enforced by the statutes of 10th Hen. VII....
have the vote at home but took advantage of the lax franchise rules of Potwalloper boroughs to take some leave. In October the regiment left Plymouth for...
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