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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]

Mr. Francis Crossley Fulton

Mr. Francis Crossley Fulton was born in the year 1836, at Fatehgar, Bengal, India, and was a son of the late Major Robert Bell Fulton. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary school, afterwards entered the service of Messrs Bryan, Donkin and Company, engineers, of Bermondsey, London, and a year later sailed for Port Chalmers in the ship “Slains Castle.” He arrived in Dunedin in 1852, his brothers, Mr. (afterwards the Hon.) James Fulton and Mr. Robert Fulton, having settled there in 1849. Shortly after his arrival he took up a small farm at outram, near Dunedin, but relinquished this to take up a sheep run at Waitaki, as one of three partners. In 1856 he went to Sydney, and for two years received a good commercial training. Before his return to New Zealand he married the youngest daughter of Mr. Edmund Smith Hall. Mr. Fulton again entered into farming pursuits in Otago, but three or four years later established a shipping and general agency business in Dunedin, which developed into a large concern. In 1872 he purchased, in England, a steamer for the Sydney and New Zealand trade, but unfortunately this vessel was lost on her way out. Undeterred by this misfortune, in the following year he went Home again, purchased and brought out the “Easby,” a steamer of about 1,800 tons, which he successfully ran until 1879, when the vessel was bought by a Melbourne firm. In May, 1878, Mr. Fulton suffered a very severe accident, from which he never thoroughly recovered. He was a passenger by the coach from Dunedin to Oamaru on the last trip prior to the opening of the railway. The coach capsized as it was descending the north side of the “Horse Range,” between Palmerston South and Hampden. Two of the passengers were killed, and others, including Mr. Fulton, were severely injured. He continued his agency business in Dunedin until 1883, when he went to England for a third visit, this time with the object of starting the Land and Loan Company of New Zealand, with the head office for the colony at Napier. In this he was successful, and he held the position of the first managing director. Mr. Fulton died some time ago, leaving a family of one son and four daughters.