John Ferguson (1887-1929)
John Ferguson (1887-1929)
1929 Obituary [1]
JOHN FERGUSON was born on the 13th September, 1887, at Hamilton, Lanarkshire, and was educated at Hamilton Academy.
He served his apprenticeship as an electrical engineer at Motherwell power station, and later studied at the Technical College, Glasgow.
In 1907 he obtained a post with the Burmah Oil Co, and later was appointed electrical engineer to the Patiala State, India.
He remained in Patiala until 1914, when he became connected with Callender's Cable and Construction Co., and was with that company until he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 as a wireless officer.
After the War he was with the Electrical Apparatus Co. for a short period until his appointment as deputy chief electrical engineer to the East Indian Railway Co.
In January 1927 he was appointed general manager in Malaya to the Perak River Hydro-Electric Power Co., and remained with that company until his death, which took place on the 2nd January, 1929.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1912 and a Member in 1921.
1929 Obituary [2]
JOHN FERGUSON, M.B.E., who died in his forty-fourth year, on 2nd January 1929, was general manager of the Perak River Hydro-Electric Power Company of Malaya.
He was apprenticed in Scotland and attended the Royal Technical College, Glasgow.
After a further period as pupil with Edmundson's Electricity Corporation at Hamilton, he became assistant engineer, but shortly afterwards he became power station superintendent at the Clyde Navigation Trustees' power station at Clyde Bank Dock.
In 1908 he was appointed electrical engineer to the Burmah Oil Company at Rangoon and in 1911 electrical and mechanical engineer to the Patiala State Government, Punjab, where he was responsible for the construction and development of the hydro-electric transmission scheme.
From 1914 to 1916 he was district engineer for Messrs. Callender's Cable and Construction Company in the Eastern Counties, and during the following years until 1919 he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps and carried out work in connexion with the defences of London against the air raids.
In 1919 he was appointed assistant chief electrical engineer, East Indian Railway, and later officiating chief electrical engineer. He served on a special mission for the Government of India to reorganize the electrical department of the North Western Railway of India, after which he received the appointment which he held at his death.
Mr. Ferguson became a Member of the Institution in 1925 and he was also a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.