A pot-walloper, Robert Seymour, 1830

A disreputable tramp, clasping his bare legs, sits beside a pot hanging gipsy-fashion over burning sticks. A man (left) addresses him with an oratorical gesture and a severe expression: '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'. An older man (right) puts his hand in his pocket, saying, 'never mind him i'll give you something to put in your pot'. The voter looks with a greedy sideways grin at the latter. Below the title: '"in some parts of england the elective franchise is held by every man that wallops, or boils a pot in a tenement & hence a pot-walloper is a parliamentary and legal term. " (times monday july 12th 1830. )' [paragraph from a correspondent headed "a walloper and wallop". ] july 14 1830 lithograph. Date: 1830. Dimensions: Height: 242 mm (image); Width: 325 mm. Medium: paper. Collection: British Museum. A pot-walloper (BM 1868,0808.9198)