The account below of Sir James Fergusson was given in the January 1897 West Parish Newsletter produced monthly by Rev. Roderick Lawson.
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Below are a few more facts of interest regarding Sir James Fergusson, gathered from various sources. In 1887 a ceremony was held in Maybole for laying the memorial stone of the new town hall. Featured on the first page of the programme is the notice that this memorial stone would be laid by "BROTHER THE RIGHT HON. SIR JAMES FERGUSSON of KILKERRAN, Bart., Past Provincial Grand Master of Ayrshire. To view the programme and click here.
At the beginning of 1863 the West Kirk at Maybole, still under the patronage of
the Fergussons of Kilkerran, fell vacant, and Sir James Fergusson gave it to the
young assistant at Newton-on-Ayr. Lawson was delighted to return to his beloved
Carrick, where he was to spend the 34 remaining years of his ministry. A
cable has been received saying that Sir James Fergusson, a former Governor of
Bombay, was killed, having been buried alive in an earthquake in Jamaica. He
greatly encouraged education in the Bombay Presidency. Before leaving for
Jamaica he had accepted the Presidentship of the South Africa British Indian
Committee. He was buried in Kingston with great honours. Jamestown. Named after Governor Sir James Fergusson and proclaimed in 1871, Jamestown, in the Hundred of Belalie. South Australia. The
Kutch Museum was originally known as the Fergusson Museum after his founder, Sir
James Fergusson, a governor of Mumbai under the British rule, built in 1877. It
is the oldest museum in Gujarat and has an excellent collection. The
prestigious Fergusson College was named after Sir James Fergusson, the Governor
of Bombay during the British raj, in 1880. Today Pune has numerable Arts and
Science colleges and technical institutions.
'The town of Maybole has also of late been much improved. Access to it was
formerly inconvenient and difficult, but by the exertions of
Mr Niven of Kirkbride who has always taken the greatest interest in the
improvement of his native place, the streets have been opened by spacious roads
to and from all quarters.' |