District’s key role in British democracy

As you prepare to cast your vote today - did you know that our district played a key role in British democracy?

Pontefract is famed for holding the first secret ballot in Britain, in August 1872.

For the first time, voters in a Parliamentary by-election were able to make their choice of candidate in private using an ‘X’ on a ballot paper.  

This changed the way we vote and is key to the British democracy we have today.

Previously, all votes were cast in public which meant the system was open to corruption and intimidation.

The ballot box used on that historic day is on show at Pontefract Museum.

It is still marked with the wax seals used to ensure the votes were not tampered with. 

The seal was made with a liquorice stamp, used to make Pontefract cakes from a local liquorice factory.

A comic called Potwallopers tells the story of the town’s historic role in UK democracy in an informative and humorous way.

A potwalloper was the name given to a man who was qualified to vote because he owned his own house with a fireplace big enough to boil his own potatoes, or as it was described to ‘wallop a pot’. Pontefract was known as a Potwalloper borough.

You can pick up a copy of the comic at Pontefract Museum or Wakefield Museum. Or see the comic at potwallopers-spreads-compressed.pdf (wakefield.gov.uk)