Sir John Fergusson of Kilkerran, 1st Baronet

FERGUSON - Logan records only two threads for the red stripe. D.C. Stewart calls this Ferguson of Balquhidder to differenciate it from the Ferguson of Athol. Chiefs of the Clan are the Fergusons of Kilkerran, descended from Fergus of Dalriada, who brought the 'Stone of Scone' to Scotland. The Fergusons of Perthshire were recognised as the principal Highland branch of the clan and the chiefship belonged to 'MacFhearghuis' of Dunfallandy.

The sons of Fergus have spread across Scotland, from Ross-shire in the north to Dumfriesshire in the south-west. The Gaelic patronymic, ‘Mac Fhearghuis', is translated alternatively as ‘son of the angry' or ‘son of the bold and proud'.

The Fergusons held the lands of Kilkerran, probably from the twelfth century, but the first certain record is John Ferguson of Kilkerran in 1464. He may have been descended from John, son of Fergus, one of the witnesses to a charter of Edward Bruce signed at Turnberry shortly after the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. By 1600 there were Fergusons all over the southern part of Carrick, all of whom acknowledged Kilkerran as their chief. They sided with the Kennedys in their feud with the Lairds of Bargany and were part of the Earl of Cassillis's band in the skirmish around Maybole in 1601 when Bargany met his death.

The Ayrshire Fergusons adopted the Protestant faith during the Reformation. Sir John Ferguson of Kilkerran fought for the royalist cause in the civil war. The Kilkerran estates fell heavily into debt and it fell to one of Sir John's grandsons to restore the family fortunes. Sir John Fergusson, born around 1653, became a distinguished lawyer and a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1681. He was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in November 1703. His son, James, became a judge of the Supreme Court in 1735 with the title, ‘Lord Kilkerran'. General Sir Charles Ferguson of Kilkerran, seventh Baronet, served in the army for almost forty years. His early career took him in 1895 to Egypt and later to the Sudan. In 1914 he was the youngest major general on the army list. He served throughout the First World War and was later military governor of occupied German territory. From 1924 to 1930 he was Governor General of New Zealand. The present chief still lives at the splendid Kilkerran House in Ayrshire.

Biographical Summary

"John Ferguson [or Fergusson], of Kilkerran, in the parish of Dailly, co. Ayr, s. and h. of Simon Fergusson, of Auchinwood, near Maybole, in that county, by Jean, da. of ( — ) Craufurd, of Balsarroch, was admitted Advocate, 1 Feb. 1681, and, being successful in practice, purchased in 1700 the ancestral estate of Kilkerran from his cousin, Alexander Fergusson, and was cr. a Baronet [S.], as above, with rem. to heirs male of his body. He m. in 1680, Jean, sister of Sir Adam Whitefoorp, 1st Baronet [S. 1701], da. of James Whitefoord, of Dunduff, co. Ayr, by Isabel, da. of Sir Bryce Blair, of that ilk. He d. at Kilkerran, Feb. 1729. Funeral escutcheon."

SOURCE: Complete baronetage; Cokayne, George E. (George Edward); 1904; Vol. IV; page 417