Cable advice was received this morning to the effect that Harry Townsend Fulton, son of Lieutenant-general Fulton of this city, has passed his examination for the Imperial Army. Two commissions in the army are annually placed within the reach of New Zealanders. The first to secure one of these was Mr Andrews, of Canterbury; the second was a son of General Davidson; the third a son of Colonel Bailey; and Mr Fulton makes the fourth. The necessary papers are sent out from England, and the examination is held in New Zealand in October. It is a pretty stiff examination; and for this reason, among others, we may congratulate Mr Fulton on his success. He was, we understand, coached by Colonel Webb. Mr Fulton goes Home almost immediately to report himself to the War Office. -Evening Star, 3/3/1892.
The following notification of an approved promotion which appears in the Broad Arrow of June 27, under the heading of "Army Gazette," has reference to a young officer well known in Dunedin: — "Indian Staff Corps — Second Lieutenant Harry Townsend Fulton, from the West Yorkshire Regiment: 24th July 1894." -Otago Witness, 27/8/1896.
THE ROLL CALL
CAPTAIN H. T. FULTON.
Captain Fulton, who goes in command of No. 9, Otago and Southland Company, was born in India, in 1869. He is a son of the late General Fulton, so well known in Otago, and a nephew of the late James Fulton, who was member for Taieri for many years. Captain Fulton first went to school in England, but for seven years was a pupil at the Otago High School. He started soldiering very early, and during his five years in the volunteer force in Otago was successively lieutenant of the Otago High School Cadets, Lieutenant Dunedin City Rifles, and Lieutenant City Guards. In 1892 Captain Fulton received a commission in the 95rd Highlanders, and proceeded to India to join his regiment. From the 93rd he was transferred to the 34th West Yorkshires, and then joined the Indian Staff Corps. In 1894 he was attached to the 26th Madras Infantry; was afterwards transferred to the Bengal Infantry; and then permanently appointed to the 2nd Ghoorkhas. He was on service in 1897-98 with the Malakana and Tirali Field Forces, and received a medal and two clasps. Captain Fulton was on leave here when he was asked to take a commission in the Fourth Contingent. -Evening Star, 24/3/1900.
THE OPERATIONS AT OTTOSHOOP
A CHAT WITH CAPTAIN FULTON.
Captain H. T. Fulton, of No. 9 Company, Fourth New Zealand Contingent, who has returned to the colony invalided, was interviewed on the 2nd by a “Mail'’ reporter.
It may be remembered that the Captain is an Imperial officer, and that he has had experience in India. Speaking of the journey made by the contingent from Beira to Bulawayo and Mafeking, he said it was a picnic in comparison with the movements of the troops in some portions of India, and the work that had to be done in similar circumstances there. As the contingent journeyed along the backbone of the country, so to speak, it was not possible for its members to give a correct verdict on the capabilities of the territory. Captain Fulton gathered that it is a good cattle country. So far as cultivation is concerned, there is the drawback that the plough sets free fever germs, the abundance of black labour available, however, seems to offer the European settler a means of having initial agricultural operations carried out without danger.
In the Fourth Contingent’s first engagement with the Boers, Captain Fulton was wounded, and the injury which be suffered was sufficiently severe to incapacitate him from duty for the time being. He received a bullet wound at Ottoshoop (Mahnani), whilst leading his men during an attack on a kopje. In reply to questions regarding the engagement, Captain Fulton said he had during the last week read various accounts or it, which had appeared in New Zealand papers. He thought the accounts showed how very difficult it was for any person who had not the necessary information at his command to give an accurate report of such an engagement. The impression conveyed by some of the accounts as to the casualties suffered by the enemy was misleading to an amusing extent.
With this preface, and the further qualification that ne spoke from memory, Captain Fulton gave the following description of what occurred, so far as his personal knowledge went:
“We got orders to parade at Ottoshoop at one o’clock in the afternoon. After parading and watering the horses, we moved to a position, about four miles out, where the First Brigade (Lord Errol’s) Rhodesian Field Force, had been all the morning. This was on the Zeerust road. We comprised the Fourth New Zealand Regiment, the Sixth Regiment Imperial Bushmen (New South-Wales), and batteries of artillery and pom-poms. When our brigade arrived within about a mile and a half of the wooded kopje, we massed behind the guns. From this position a flank attack on the right was ordered. This was taken part in by two squadrons of the Fourth New Zealand Regiment. After moving in extended order for about two miles to the right, they were to wheel into line and attack the kopje. At this moment a troop of No. 9 squadron and a troop of No. 10 squadron, which had been told off for rearguard work, appeared on the scene. With these I received orders to make frontal attack, and the New South Wales Regiment were ordered to make an attack on the left flank. Under cover of the guns the lines advanced, and eventually the kopje was taken, with, I believe, one casualty. As the kopje was wooded, I advanced with the Otago men to the further side of the timber and into a creek below. The Southland troop had been sent off to form a connecting link with the remaining New Zealand squadrons. We waited in the creek for a few minutes to take breath, and then, on finding that the Southland squadron were coming up in extended order in the rear, with a troop of the Wellington squadron in rear of them, we advanced to the attack of the next kopje. The guns were in the meantime shelling a kopje on the left of the road. In advancing, the Otago men were worked to the right to the neck of a ridge, in order to make a flank attack on the right of the kopje. The Southland men went direct to their front, as I believe did a troop of the Wellington men. While we were in this formation the Boers allowed us to move across an absolutely open piece of ground without firing on us. They did not fire until we got almost on to the ridge. Then a few of them opened fire at a distance of ten yards. Our men took cover. After getting back to them, and on finding that we could not see anything of the enemy we (the Otago men) retired for about thirty yards, so as to get further round the flank. But on finding that the others were going forward, we advanced again and took the kopje. After the kopje had been taken, and the enemy had retreated, the New South Wales men came up to support us.”
Captain Fulton and Sergeant Hickey were the first hit when the Boers opened fire. The captain explained to the interviewer that he felt the effects of his wound when night came on and the temperature fell. Then he was compelled to go off duty. The bullet did not lodge, but passed in and out of the back. According to the doctors it touched one of the segmental bones in its course. Had it gone a very little deeper it would have caused an injury to the spine, which would almost certainly have been fatal. After being in hospital and under treatment at Mafeking, Captain Fulton travelled by train to Capetown, where he spent a few weeks at a sanatorium before joining the Aberdeen liner Moravian, in which he made the voyage to Australia. He came across from Sydney in the steamer Mokoia, and, as already indicated, he has almost completely recovered his normal health and strength. It is Captain Fulton’s intention to visit Napier and Otago shortly. There is every probability that he will afterwards return to India and rejoin his regiment, the 2nd Ghoorkhas. At present he is on six months’ sick leave. -NZ Mail, 8/11/1901.
Local and General
Immediately on rejoining his regiment in India, Captain H. T. Fulton received the appointment of adjutant, and was ordered to the frontier. -NZ Times, 23/10/1901.
Local and General
The following account of a presentation at a parade at Kila Drosoh, Chitral, India, will be of interest to our readers, as it relates to a soldier and a gentleman who, with his family, are well known in Dunedin. — '"On the 22nd of March a parade of all the troops in garrison was held, when Captain H. T. Fulton, 22nd Gurkhas, was presented with the insignia of the Distinguished Service Order. Lieutenant-colonel L. Hall. Commanding the Force, in making the presentation, said: 'His Majesty the King-Emperor has been pleased to confer on Captain Fulton the Distinguished Service Order, which it is my pleasing duty to present to him in your presence To have gained a mark of royal pleasure by conspicuous service in South Africa is an honour which the recipients have well earned, and I understand that from the raising, equipping, and training of the Fourth New Zealand Rough Riders to the day that he was severely wounded at close quarters while gallantly leading his men, when, having forced the Boers from one kopje, he displayed tactical skill in driving home the attack at the enemy's weakest point; in the care of his forces, in his ready resource and untiring energy, Captain Fulton showed all those qualities which go to make a successful soldier and leader. He is one of those men on whom you can depend to do that which he has to do thoroughly and well, and he has the supreme satisfaction of finding his services recognised. No one can congratulate him more sincerely and heartily than I do, and may he live long to earn more laurels in the service of his country.' The Order was then pinned on Captain Fulton's breast, and the parade was dismissed." -Otago Witness, 23/7/1902.
Personal
Major H. T. Fulton, D.S.O., 2nd King Edward’s Own Ghurkas (India), and Mrs. Fulton are spending a few days in Now Plymouth. Major Fulton is a Dunedin boy. -Taranaki Herald, 17/6/1911.
MARRIAGES.
FULTON — DIXON. — On the 3rd March, 1905, at St. Thomas's Cathedral, Bombay, by the Rev. H. Foote, M.A., Captain Harry Townsend Fulton, D.S., 2nd P/W.O. Gurkhas, sixth son of the late Lieutenant-general John Fulton, R.A., Dunedin, New Zealand, to Ada Hermina, daughter of John James Dixon, Esq., Auckland, New Zealand. -Otago Daily Times, 19/4/1905.
OTAGO TO THE FORE.
Major Harry Townsend Fulton, D.S.O., has been appointed to the command of one section of the New Zealand Territorials who are to be despatched to-morrow for service abroad — for relieving British garrisons either in India or Egypt. It will be remembered that Major Fulton was in Dunedin in 1900, when the Boer War broke out, and sailed on the memorable 23rd of March in the following year, when Otago’s Fourth Contingent left by the Monowai for Durban amid the good wishes of the whole people of Otago, and with the benisons of the Governor (Earl Ranfurly) and the then Prime Minister (Mr Seddon). Captain Fulton (as he then was) was in command of his regiment at the engagement at Ottershoop, where he was wounded, and where Captain Harvey was killed. He came back to Otago invalided, with the rank of major, and had the D.S.O. conferred on him. When he became convalescent he went to India, where he became wing commander of the 2nd battalion of the 2nd Gurkhas. It is understood in military circles here that the regiment that will be commanded by Major Fulton will sail by the Moeraki tomorrow from Wellington but for obvious reasons her port of arrival will not be disclosed until the men are beyond communication with the shore. -Evening Star, 10/8/1914.
Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Townsend Fulton, D.S.O., who is now in camp at Trentham, relates a very interesting experience. Before leaving India on furlough, Colonel .Fulton was induced to have his fortune told by a native woman. At that time war did not appear at all likely between Great Britain and Germany, and when the fortune-teller informed Colonel Fulton that he would be raised in rank in the country he was going to, and that he would unfurl a flag in a new land, he laughed at the idea. It is probably only a coincidence; but the native woman’s prophecies have come true. Prior to leaving for Samoa, the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel was conferred upon him, and the colonel hoisted the British flag on the island of Samoa when the New Zealand expeditionary force annexed it in the name of the King. -NZ Times, 14/5/1915.
We were now able to reflect with some degree of satisfaction upon the Brigade's share in the notable successes achieved by the Division during the past six days. Of this we had every reason to be proud, but the natural feeling of elation was damped by the disaster that had fallen upon Brigade Headquarters. During the heavy shelling on the night of the 28th, the cellar in Colincamps occupied by the Brigade staff was struck by a shell and demolished. Brigadier-General H. T. Fulton, C.M.G., D.S.O., who had returned from leave on the previous evening, was mortally wounded, and Major R. G. Purdy, M.C., the Brigade Major, was killed. The Staff Captain (Major G. C. Dailey), the Signalling Officer (Lieut. C. R. G. Bassett, V.C.), and the Grenade Officer (Lieut. K. E. Luke) were wounded, and no fewer than nine other ranks killed and eleven wounded. General Fulton succumbed to his injuries on the following morning whilst being conveyed to the casualty clearing station at Doullens. To the Brigade this catastrophe came as a severe blow. General Fulton had been entrusted with the organization and training of the Brigade from its inception, and during practically the whole of its existence it had been under his command. He jealously guarded its interests, but ever aimed at a high standard of efficiency. He was a strong disciplinarian and a stern taskmaster, yet every officer and man under his command knew that a somewhat gruff exterior but thinly concealed a kindly and sympathetic nature, and, infected by his intense pride in the Brigade, learned to discharge every task as if it were a personal service as well as a public duty. -Official History, Rifle Brigade.
DEATH FROM WOUNDS
BRIGADIER-GENERAL FULTON.
FINE RECORD OF SERVICE.
A fine record of service to his country as a soldier lies to the credit of Brigadier-general Harry Townsend Fulton, C.M.G.. D.S.O., whose death from wounds received while fighting in France has just been announced. The advice was conveyed by cablegram yesterday afternoon to the Minister of Defence from General Godley, and it will occasion much genuine regret to the friends of the deceased soldier in all parts of the dominion. At the time of his death he was commanding the 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade at the front, and he was universally regarded as being one of our best commanders. His loss to the New Zealand army in France is unquestionably a heavy one, and he will be very difficult to replace. Brigadier-general Fulton, who came of a fighting family, early adopted a military career as his vocation; and after a full and varied life as a soldier he has died a soldier's death.
The fifth son of the late Lieutenant-general John Fulton, he was born in India in 1869, and, coming to New Zealand at an early age, he received his education at the Otago Boys' High School, where he took a prominent part in cricket and football and the other school games. While at school he became a lieutenant in the cadet corps, and later joined the Dunedin City Guards. Deciding upon a military career, he sat for the commission then offered by the Imperial authorities to the sons of officers in the British army resident in the colonies, and was gazetted a lieutenant in 1892. He returned to India immediately, and, joining the Indian Staff Corps in 1894, he served in the Tirah campaign, for which he received the medal. In 1899 he was on furlough in New Zealand when the Boer war broke out, and was nominated as captain of the Otago Company of the Fourth Contingent. In August, 1900, he was severely wounded at Ottoshoop, where Captain Harvey, the other Otago captain, was killed, and, following upon this engagement, he was promoted to the rank of major, but, being too badly injured to continue serving, he was invalided to New Zealand. For his services in the field he received the South African war medal with two clasps, and on returning to his Indian regiment (the 2nd Ghurkas) in 1901 he was appointed adjutant and awarded the D.S.O. Later he saw service with the Malakand Field Force, and the Chitral Field Forces on the Afghan frontier, for which he received a medal. At the Delhi Durbar he acted as aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant-governor of Bengal, and he was subsequently appointed assistant instructor of mounted infantry at Futtyghur, India. After further service with his Ghurka regiment he came to New Zealand on furlough in 1914, and on the outbreak of war was appointed to the first Expeditionary Force/with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, leaving for Samoa in command of the advance guard of Colonel Logan's force. He remained there for some time, and eventually returned to New Zealand with the advance guard, after which his services were utilised for several months in various capacities connected with the training and despatching of the reinforcement drafts. His own chance came about the middle of 1915, and he left the dominion in command of Lord Liverpool's Rifle Brigade, with the rank of brigadier-general. After a period of service in the desert campaign in Egypt he went on to France, where he took part in a great deal of the fighting and was awarded the distinction of C.M.G. for his services, and later, when the Rifle Brigade was lent to the French forces, he had the Croix de Guerre conferred upon him by the French commander. In 1917 he was transferred to the command of the troops in Sling Camp, and during his absence both Brigadier-general Brown, who took his place in the field, and the officer who in turn succeeded General Brown were killed. Returning to France about two months ago, he again took up his duties as brigadier-general, and was apparently in the thick of the present fighting when he received the wounds which have resulted in his death. As a brigadier he greatly enhanced his reputation as a soldier. He won the esteem of his officers and men as well as his superiors, and was everywhere recognised as a sound tactician, a gallant soldier, a good administrator, and a painstaking officer in the interests of his men. He is the third New Zealand brigade commander to be killed in action in the present war, the others being Brigadier-general F. E. Johnston and Brigadier-general C. H. J. Brown.
The late Brigadier-general Fulton was married 13 years ago to Miss Ada Dixon, of Auckland, but he had no family. At the present time his wife is doing war work as matron of a nursing home at Brockenhurst, England. One of his brothers, Q.M.S. Bertram S. Fulton, is serving in Palestine, and a great many of his relatives are in the firing line. Of his two sisters, one is unmarried and is living in England, and the other is Mrs Richard Bohm, of Wellington. Dr Fulton and Mr H. V. Fulton, of this city, are cousins of the deceased soldier, and an aunt, Mrs James Fulton, who is almost 90 years of age, and who has lost three grandsons in the service of the Empire, lives at West Taieri. -Otago Witness, 10/4/1918.
WAR MEMORIALS
LATE BRIGADIER-GENERAL FULTON.
A quiet but most impressive little ceremony surrounded the unveiling in St. Matthew’s Church on Saturday morning of a memorial tablet to Brigadier-general Harry Townsend Fulton, C.M.G, D.S.O. Among those present were: Colonel T. W. McDonald, Colonel E. R. Smith, Colonel W. J. Strong, Colonel G. W. Macdonald, Lieutenant-colonel O’Neill, D.S.O. (who served with the deceased in the last war), Lieutenant-colonel T. Chalmer, Lieutenant-colonel R. V. Fulton, Captain Crosby Morris, Lieutenant Elliston Orbell (who was with the deceased in the South African war), and a group of members of the Otago Boys’ High school Old Boys’ Society.
The service was conducted by Archdeacon Curzon-Siggers, who explained that the tablet had been presented by the widow of the late Brigadier-general, and was placed in the spot chosen by her opposite the seat where her husband and his father, General Fulton, worshipped for many years. The Archdeacon referred to the “Chant Funebre,” written in memory of Brigadier-general Fulton by Mr D. W. M. Burn, who was a contemporary of his at the Otago Boys’ High School. Copies of the poem were distributed, and the Archdeacon explained the references in it from notes supplied by Dr .Fulton. He stated that Brigadier-general Fulton was born in India in 1869, and came to New Zealand in 1880. He attended the Otago Boys’ High School from 1880 to 1889, and served in the Dunedin City Guards under Colonel Smith. He entered the Indian army in 1892; was given a commission in the 95rd Highlanders; entered the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Gurkha Regiment as lieutenant, and rose to the colonelcy; served in the Malakand and Tirah campaigns; and in 1899 came to New Zealand on furlough. From here he volunteered for service in the Boer war; sailed for Beira as captain of the Otago Company of the 4th New Zealand Rough Riders; was severely wounded in the spine at the battle of Ottoshoop (where Captain Harvey was killed), on August 16, 1900; was promoted to major and invalided to New Zealand. For his services in South Africa he received the D.S.O., and returned to India in 1901. When the war broke out in 1914 he was in New Zealand on furlough. He volunteered for service on August 3, 1914; was appointed lieutenant-colonel commanding Auckland Regiment; went with the advance guard to Samoa; appointed brigadier of New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 1915. He saw service in Egypt, in East Africa, and the Senussi campaigns and his conduct brought him the awards of the C.M.G. and the Croix de Guerre. From Egypt he went to France, where he was mortally wounded at Hebuterne on March 28, 1918, and died the following day. His body lies buried at the Doullens Military Cemetery.
After the hymn “Now the Labourer’s Task is O’er” had been sung, the Archdeacon read the service appointed for unveilings, and unveiled the tablet, which bears the following inscription: — “To the glory of God and in loving memory of Harry Townsend Fulton, C.M.G.. D.S.O., Brigadier-general commanding the New Zealand Rifle Brigade; Lieutenant-colonel, 2nd King Edward’s Own Gurkha Rifles; sixth son of Lieutenant-general John Fulton, R.A., of this parish. He received the D.S.O. for his work in the South African campaign, 1900; served with distinction in Samoa (1914-15), in Western Egypt (1916), and in France (1916-1918). Died of wounds at the battle of Amiens, March 29, 1918; aged 48. 'I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.’” The ceremony closed with the "Dead March” in “Saul.” played by Mr Lionel Richards, two brothers of whose gave their lives in the great war. -Otago Daily Times, 25/4/1921.
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