James Fulton (New Zealand politician)

James Fulton was born in Bengal,[1] and went to New Zealand in the late 1840s.[2] On 22 September 1852, he married Catherine Valpy, a daughter of one of Dunedin's most prominent and prosperous families. His wife was to become a notable suffragette.[3] They had three sons and three daughters.[2] His two eldest sons, Arthur Fulton (1853-1889) and James Edward Fulton (1854-1928) were prominent civil engineers.

He played five first-class cricket matches for Otago between 1863 and 1868.[4] These were the first five first-class matches played in New Zealand, and scores were very low. He made the top score of the match in the first two matches: 25 not out in the first match, which Otago won, and 22 in the second, which Canterbury won.[5] He captained Otago in three of his matches.

For many years he was resident magistrate at Outram, a small town west of Dunedin, before taking up farming.[2] He represented the Taieri electorate from 1879 to 1890 when he retired.[6] He was one of the commissioners on the Royal Commission into sweated labour in 1890.[2]

He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council in 1891, from 22 January to 20 November when he died.[7] He was appointed as one of seven new members (including Harry Atkinson himself) appointed to the Council by the outgoing fourth Atkinson Ministry; a move regarded by Liberals as a stacking of the upper house against the new government.

• List of Otago representative cricketers

• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.