Catherine Henrietta Elliot Fulton (née Valpy, 19 December 1829 – 6 May 1919) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

diarist, community leader, philanthropist, social reformer and suffragist. She was a founding member of the

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

chapter of Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand (WCTU NZ) in 1885 and national president of the WCTU NZ from 1889 to 1892.

Early life

Fulton was one of six children born to

William Henry Valpy William Henry Valpy (2 January 1793 – 25 September 1852) was a noted early settler of Dunedin, New Zealand. He is sometimes referred to locally as "The father of Saint Clair", as he was the first settler in the area now occupied by the suburb ...

and Caroline Valpy (née Jeffreys). She was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

or in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England on 19 December 1829. She was educated in England and arrived in New Zealand on the ''Ajax'' in January 1849.

Public life

Fulton married James Fulton in 1852 and moved to his farm "Ravenscliffe" on the

Taieri Plains The Taieri Plain (also referred to in the plural as the Taieri Plains) is an area of fertile agricultural land to the southwest of Dunedin, in Otago, New Zealand. The plain covers an area of some 300 square kilometres, with a maximum extent of 3 ...

, Otago. Together they had eight children, several of whom became notable in their own right (most famously the engineers

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...

and

James Edward Fulton James Edward Fulton (11 December 1854 – 6 December 1928) was a New Zealand surveyor and civil engineer. He was born in Outram, South Otago, New Zealand on 11 December 1854, and was the son of James and Catherine Valpy Fulton. He was survived b ...

). Fulton was the national President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of New Zealand from 1889 to 1892. She had worked with the American WCTU missionary Mary C. Leavitt to found the Dunedin branch in May 1885 and was its first President. At the first national convention of the WCTU NZ in 1886, Fulton announced that the Dunedin Union had opened the Leavitt House (the former Star and Garter Hotel) to offer a meeting place for their activities with youth who had signed the temperance pledge. Under the leadership of Mrs. McKenzie they had recruited nearly 400 children. They provided after-school activities, including scientific temperance instruction and Bible reading classes. They offered evening classes in cooking, sewing, and carpentry as well as a club for boys. Leavitt House

Along with her sisters

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: * Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress * Elle ...

and

Arabella ''Arabella'', Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. Performance history It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the Dr ...

, she established the Band of Hope Coffee Rooms. She was a strong advocate for women's suffrage and included in her diaries her frustration with politicians who opposed it. In 1879, James Fulton was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, and in 1889 was appointed to the Legislative Council. He presented to the Upper House a WCTU NZ petition for Women's Franchise that his wife had organised in 1891 - over 10,000 signatures. Catherine Fulton attended the council sessions daily, along with the wives of other parliamentarians, to follow the passage of the Women's Suffrage bill through Parliament, but it failed that year. When the newly amended Electoral Bill was passed in 1893, she drove her women neighbours to the polling booths so they could vote. After her husband died in 1891, she continued to run the farm alone. Aged 90, she died on 6 May 1919 and was survived by three sons and three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Catherine Henrietta Elliot 1829 births 1919 deaths New Zealand philanthropists English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand diarists Valpy-Fulton-Jeffreys family Women diarists British social reformers New Zealand suffragists People from Otago 19th-century New Zealand writers 19th-century New Zealand women writers 19th-century philanthropists