potwaller
(ˈpɒtˌwɒlə(r))
[f. pot n.1 + waller, agent-n. from wall v., OE. weallan to boil.]
lit. = pot-boiler, the boiler of a pot: the term applied in some English boroughs, before the Reform Act of 1832, to a man qualified for a parliamentary vote as a householder (i.e. tenant of a house or distinct part of one) as distinguished from one who was merely a member or inmate of a householder's family; the test of which was his having a separate fire-place, on which his own pot was boiled or food cooked for himself and his family.
According to 18th c. statements, the test was at times abused by persons not householders, who in anticipation of an election and of receiving money for their vote, boiled a pot in the presence of witnesses on an improvised fireplace in the open air within the borough, and thus passed as potwallers.
| 1701 Jrnls. Ho. Comm. 28 May XIII. 583 Borough of Honyton:..That the Right of Election was agreed to be in the pot-wallers, not receiving Alms. 1710 Ibid. XVI. 479/2 [Taunton] At an Election, 40 Years ago, the Potwallers were refused, and none but Scot and Lot Men voted then. Ibid., Copies of Returns..in the Years 1661, 79, 80, 88, and 1705, were produced; and it was proved..that several of the Persons, who signed those Returns, were Potwallers. 1715 Ibid. 30 Aug., That the Right of Election of Burgesses to serve in Parliament for the Borough of Taunton, is in the Inhabitants within the same Borough, being Pot⁓wallers, and not receiving Alms or Charity. 1786 Act 26 Geo. III, c. 100 §1 An inhabitant householder, house⁓keeper, and potwaller legally settled. 1826 J. Savage Manual Electors Taunton 17 In the Contest which took place in 1774..it was agreed that a Potwaller is a person who furnishes his own diet, whether he be a Housekeeper or only a Lodger. Ibid. 18 To be a Potwaller, or Pot⁓boiler, or to boil a Pot, was only another mode of expressing that Thomas Johnson, or any other Voter, was a man so far independent of other persons as to be visibly able to maintain himself and family by his own labour and industry. 1835 Roscoe Rep. Munic. Corpor. Comm. I. 649 (Tregony) Settlement in the parish, and residence as a pot⁓waller constitute a Burgess. 1860 Bagehot Unref. Parl. 7 Inhabitants of the said town [Ilchester] paying scot and lot, which the town called pot-wallers. 1895 Besant Westminster ix. 256 The voting qualification..was..the tenant who paid scot and lot, and the potwaller. |
b. Of this term there have been various popular alterations, of which pot-walloper (see next) has attained greater notoriety than the original official term; also α.
pot-wabbler,
pot-wobbler; β.
pot-wallader (?
mispr. for
-walloper).
| α 1789 S. Shaw Tour W. Eng. 337 It appears very singular..that the Members of Parliament [for Taunton] should be chosen by electors of so strange a qualification as the following, viz. all pot-wabblers, or those who dress their own victuals, are entitled to vote. 1811 Lex. Balatronicum, Pot-wabblers, persons entitled to vote for members of parliament in certain boroughs, from having boiled their pots therein. These boroughs are called pot-wabbling boroughs. 1817 Bentham Parl. Reform Introd. 109 Boroughs..in which the right has the extent marked by the word householders, or by the word pot-wobblers. |
| β 1790 M. Dunsford Hist. Mem. Tiverton iv. 180, Anno 1603. The potwalladers elected two burgesses to represent the borough of Tiverton, in the first parliament of King James I. They were returned by the portreeve. |
So
ˈpot-ˌwalling, also 9
pot-wabbling, the boiling of a pot, the being a potwaller or householder: also
attrib. or as adj.| 1456 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 291 A sertificat [of] continuall residence and abydyng and pot wallyng wythyn any of the cytteys or towyns. 1811 [see b. α above]. |