James Fulton was born in Bengal, and went to New Zealand in the late 1840s. 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. They had three sons and three daughters. 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. 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. He represented the
Taieri electorate from 1879 to 1890 when he retired. He was one of the commissioners on the Royal Commission into
sweated labour in 1890. He was a member of the
New Zealand Legislative Council in 1891, from 22 January to 20 November when he died. 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. ==Notes==