James Fullerton : Short Biography

James Fullerton was born on 11 January 1807 in the village of Aghadowey, County Londonderry in Northern Ireland.  His parents were the Reverend Archibald Fullerton and Elizabeth Fullerton nee Church.  Archibald Fullerton was born in Scotland in 1761 and died around 1813 iat Caw, near Carragh, County Londonderry.  Elizabeth Fullerton died in 1854 at Millfield, Carragh.

James was the fourth son.  His siblings may have included Eliza Margaret Fullerton (1793-1887); John Fullerton (1796-1819); Thomasina Fullerton (1797-1882); Margaret Fullerton (1800 - ?); George Fullerton (1802-1883);  Elizabeth M Fullerton (1804-1894); Mary Fullerton (1807-?).

James studied at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1828.  He was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church on 2 December 1836 and was minister at Benburb, County Tyrone from December 1836 to June 1837.

Reverend John Dunmore Lang, who founded the Presbyterian Church in Australia, toured Ireland in 1836-1837 recruiting ministers to go to New South Wales.  James Fullerton arrived in Sydney, New South Wales on 3 December 1837 on board the Portland.  James' brother George followed him in 1841 and became a successful physician in Queensland.

James married Mary Jenkins (1818 - 1852) on 30 June 1840.  Mary was the second daughter of a very wealthy ex-convict, James Jenkins.  James and Mary had six children:

Archibald Fullerton (1842-?)

George Fullerton (1843-1882)

James Fullerton (1845 - 1926)

William James Moreton Fullerton (1847-1922)

Elizabeth Fullerton (1849-1905)

Mary Fullerton (1851-1908).

After Mary died, James married Janet Young (1828-1876) on 2 August 1858 in Melbourne where her parents lived.  

James and Janet had four children:

David Young Fullerton (1860-?)

Janet Christina Fullerton (1862-?)

Julia Adderton Fullerton (1863-?)

Alexander Young Fullerton (1865-?).

James Fullerton began his ministry at Windsor and Richmond from 1837 to 1838 and was then appointed to a congregation in Pitt Street, Sydney where he remained from 1838 until 1886.  In 1851 he was tried in the Supreme Court of New South Wales for illegal solemnization of marriage, but discharged on appeal on a technicality.  The marriages he performed were legal, but he "asked few questions and generally believed the answers".  He was an important figure in the early Presbyterian Church in Sydney, strongly evangelical in his preaching, and involved in campaigning for an end to transportation, shorter hours for shop assistants, and a member of several philanthropic and educational societies.

James died on 3 July 1886 in Sydney.  The cause of death was pneumonia.  He was buried in the Presbyterian section of Rookwood Cemetery.  His estate was valued at 13,000 pounds and included a farm, shares in a sugar plantation in Queensland, 16 houses and 63 acres of land.