John Ferguson, was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist.
Background
Ferguson was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, 28 February 1787. His father, William Ferguson, was a shipmaster of that port, and his mother, Mary, was the only daughter of John Service of Holms of Caaf, a small property near Dalry, Ayrshire. Ferguson was educated at Ayr, was for some time in a banker"s office, went to America in connection with the affairs of one of his uncles, returned after four years, and in 1810 settled with his mother at Irvine.
She succeeded to large sums on the death of her brother George and then of her father.
Career
The Services were an Ayrshire family, some of whom had been lenders of money. The father of Mary Service followed this profession, and was a man of penurious habits and peevish temper. The fortune of the Fergusons was increased by the death in 1828 of another uncle, who left 200,000l., and of a third who died in 1842 and left 400,000l.
These brothers seem to have had no aim in life but to amass money.
Ferguson, by his sagacity and knowledge of the money market, increased the fortune, till at his death it amounted to 1,247,514l. 14s. 5d. He was a man of somewhat ordinary character, undecided, was never married, and for the last few years of his life lived in comparative seclusion.
The sum available for it was no less than 400,000l. Among the purposes to which the Ferguson trustees devoted another part of Ferguson"s estate was the founding of scholarships in connection with the Scottish universities.
These are six in number, of the annual value of 80l. each, tenable for two years—one for classical, another for mathematical, and the third for philosophical eminence.
The scholarships may be competed for by students of any of the Scottish universities who have taken the degree of Master of Arts, or have qualified for that degree within the two years preceding. The administration of the fund is conducted by the permanent trustees under the superintendency of Matthew South. Tait, by whom an annual report is prepared and submitted to the trustees. Ferguson signed his will at Glasgow on 22 September 1855, and soon after his health began to fail.
lieutenant is said that after this he got a friend to make up a statement of his property, and when the amount was stated at nearly a million and a quarter he could not believe it to be so much.
He died on 8 January 1856, having nearly completed his sixty-ninth year.