{{Short description|New Zealand politician (1833–1910)}} {{use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Arabella Valpy | birth_date = 1833 | birth_place = West Bengal, India | death_date = 18 January 1910 | mother = Caroline Valpy | father = William Henry Valpy }} '''Arabella Valpy''' (1833 – 18 January 1910) was one of six children of William Henry Valpy and Caroline Valpy (born Jeffreys), a pioneer family that emigrated from Britain to Dunedin, New Zealand, in January 1849 aboard the ''Ajax''.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Ajax list|url = http://www.ngaiopress.com/ajaxlist.htm|website = www.ngaiopress.com|accessdate = 2015-10-25}}</ref> Arabella was born in West Bengal, India, where her father was a judge.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Arabella Jeffreys Valpy (1833 - 1910) - Find A Grave Memorial|url = https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130729539|website = www.findagrave.com|accessdate = 2015-10-25}}</ref>
Valpy is remembered for inviting General William Booth to New Zealand to introduce The Salvation Army to the colony. She wrote to him in April 1882, including a bank draft for two hundred pounds to cover costs, and in November 1882 two officers were sent to New Zealand to found the Salvation Army.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Book of New Zealand Women|editor-last = Macdonald|editor-first = Charlotte |publisher = Bridget Williams Books|year = 1991|isbn = 0908912048|location = Wellington, New Zealand|pages = 702–704}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Dunedin Beginnings|url = http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/salvation-army|website = www.teara.govt.nz|accessdate = 2015-10-25|first = McLintock, Alexander|last = Hare|first2 = Alfred James Gilliard, formerly Territorial Commander, New Zealand Salvation|last2 = Army.|first3 = New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu|last3 = Taonga}}</ref>
She established the Band of Hope Coffee Rooms with her sisters Ellen Penelope Jeffreys and Catherine Valpy and also used her own money to hire a building in Dunedin for a Sailors' Coffee Room, which she ran herself.
Valpy supported the passing of the Electoral Act 1893, which extended suffrage to women and signed the petition to Parliament asking for the vote to be extended to women.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Arabella J. Valpy {{!}} NZHistory, New Zealand history online|url = https://nzhistory.govt.nz/suffragist/arabella-j-valpy|website = www.nzhistory.net.nz|access-date = 2015-10-25}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Valpy, Arabella}} Category:People from Dunedin Category:New Zealand Salvationists Category:1833 births Category:1910 deaths Category:Valpy–Fulton–Jeffreys family Category:New Zealand suffragists Category:People from West Bengal Category:19th-century New Zealand people Category:19th-century Methodists
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