John Ferguson
1938 Obituary [1]
THOSE of our readers who have interests in civil engineering and railway work will learn with regret of the death of Mr. John Ferguson, M. Inst. C.E., who was intimately connected with the development of railways, particularly in Scotland, and who died on Friday, October 28th, at his home, 40, Parkside, Wimbledon. He was a Stirling boy, and received his education at the Stirling High School and later at the West of Scotland Technical College in Glasgow.
After leaving college he served his pupilage as a civil engineer in Glasgow, and was afterwards engaged in the laying out and the building of many of the railways then under construction in Scotland. Among them we may mention the Glasgow Central Underground Railway, the West Highland Railway, and the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway, for which Mr. Ferguson served as the resident engineer.
In 1898 he started practice for himself as a civil engineer, and three years later became a partner in the firm of Formans and McColl, in Glasgow. While with this firm he acted as engineer in the construction of the Ballachulish extension of the Callender and Oban Railway, the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway, the Paisley and Barrhead District Railway, the Leadhills Railway, and the Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway. Other work included the Clydebank Dock Branch Railway, the extensions made to the Ardrossan Harbour, and other public works, both at home and abroad.
From 1918 to 1920 he served as Civil Engineer-in-Chief for Railways under the Ministry of Transport. At the time the grouping of railways was effected he decided to return to consulting engineering practice, and was associated with Sir Alexander Gibb in Westminster until he retired in 1931. After his retirement he became associated with several public companies and served as a director of the British Insulated Cables, Ltd., the Telephone and General Trust, Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Co., Ltd., and the Birmingham Small Arms Company, Ltd.
He was frequently called upon to act as arbitrator in contracting work, and served on the Government Commission which was appointed to inquire into rural transport in Scotland. In recent years be acted as a n advisor t o the Board of Management of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and in 1936 he was elected to the Board and appointed Chairman of the Building Committee. His work in connection with the new hospital building will be long remembered, alongside the many successful civil engineering works which he designed and carried out