Catherine Fulton

Fulton was one of six children born to William Henry Valpy and Caroline Valpy (née Jeffreys). She was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire or in Reading, Berkshire, England on 19 December 1829. She was educated in England and arrived in New Zealand on the Ajax in January 1849. ==Marriage and children==

Fulton married James Fulton in 1852 and moved to his farm "Ravenscliffe" on the Taieri Plains, Otago. Together they had eight children: • Arthur Robert William Fulton (1853–1889) • James Edward Fulton (1854–1928) • Francis John Fulton (1856–1874) • Caroline Arabella Fulton (1859–1929) • Herbert Valpy Fulton (1861–1927) • Catherine Juliet Fulton Sutherland (1862–1946) • Robert Valpy Fulton (1865–1924) • Mabel Violet Fulton Barnett (1866–1958) The Fultons hosted Presbyterian church services in their house in the early days, and Catherine Fulton taught Sunday school and Bible classes. ==Public life==

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. Along with her sisters Ellen and Arabella, 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. After her husband died in 1891, she continued to run the farm alone. ==References==