Background
Fergusson was the eighth son of Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, bart., by his wife Jean Maitland, only child of James, viscount Maitland, and granddaughter of John, fifth earl of Lauderdale.
Fergusson was the eighth son of Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, bart., by his wife Jean Maitland, only child of James, viscount Maitland, and granddaughter of John, fifth earl of Lauderdale.
University of Edinburgh. Royal High School.
He practiced at the bar for thirty-four years with considerable success. On the death of Robert Macqueen of Braxfield, Fergusson was made an ordinary lord of session, and took his seat on the bench as Lord Hermand on 11 July 1799. He was also appointed a lord justiciary on 4 August 1808, in the place of Sir William Nairne of Dunsinnam.
He resigned both these offices in 1826, and died at Hermand, in the parish of West Calder, on 9 August 1827, upwards of eighty years of age.
Fergusson was eccentric and a heavy drinker. An etching of Hermand by Kay is in the first volume of ‘Original Portraits’ (Number 156).
His portrait also appears along with those of the other judges in the ‘Last Sitting of the Old Court of Session, 11 July 1808’ (volume ii Number 300).
Faculty of Advocates]
He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 17 December 1765.
