Knocktopher was a potwalloper constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800, based on the parliamentary borough of Knocktopher in County Kilkenny.
History In the Patriot Parliament of 1689 summoned by James II, Knocktopher was represented with two members. Thereafter electors had to be Protestant and an inhabitant six months resident before the election. The person in the office of potreeve rather than the seneschal of the manor made the return.
In the eighteenth century two prominent families nominated the constituency's two parliamentary members; the Langrishes of Knocktopher Abbey, and the Ponsonbys, who paid them £500 for the privilege. This arrangement lasted up to 1783. Knocktopher had Sir Hercules Langrishe as the one qualified voter in 1783-4. He contrived to possess or manage control of all the properties with houses in the town, ensuring they were not let to potential Protestants voters, and so the right of election was concentrated in his family and their immediate connections.
Members of Parliament 1661–1666 Sir Patrick Weymes (died and replaced 1661 by James Weymes) and Oliver Jones (died and replaced 1664 by Sir Maurice Eustace, junior, representative to 1666)
1689–1801
ElectionFirst MPSecond MP 1689 Harvy Morris Henry Meagh 1689 Redmond Purcell 1692 William Robinson Anthony Maude 1695 Edward Worth Blayney Sandford 1713 Roscarrick Dunkin 1715 William Wall 1741 Benjamin Burton 1747 Richard Ponsonby 1761 Sir William Fownes, 2nd Bt Hercules Langrishe 1776 Andrew Caldwell 1783 Robert Langrishe 1796 Richard Hardinge 1798 Sir George Shee, 1st Bt March 1800 Thomas Staples April 1800 Stephen Mahon 1801 Disenfranchised
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