Robert Ferguson (1 April 1817 – 1 September 1898) was an English mill-owner from

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, antiquarian and Liberal politician, who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1874 to 1886.

Biography

Ferguson was the son of Joseph Ferguson of Ferguson Brothers cotton manufacturers and his wife Maria Isabella Clarke daughter of John Clarke of Bebside House Northumberland.Debretts House of Commons and Judicial Guide 1881
/ref> His father's company owned the Holme Head Works

textile mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

s in

Denton Holme Denton Holme is an inner city district in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The population of this ward was 6,383 taken at the 2011 census. Denton Holme is usually regarded as a "village within the city" and is situated to the immediate south west of ...

. Ferguson became a partner in the firm of Ferguson Brothers and was at one time a Major in the 1st Battalion Cumberland Rifle Volunteers. He was

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

in 1855 and 1858. He was also chairman of the Carlisle School Board and president of the Carlisle Mechanics Institute. Ferguson was elected MP for

in February 1874. His father had also held the seat from 1852 to 1857. Ferguson held the seat until 1886. At the General election he retired from politics. Ferguson funded the Robert Ferguson Primary school at Denton Holme, which was opened in 1880 and which was enlarged twice in his lifetime. He lived at Morton Manor, which was later to become Chance's Park. Ferguson was also an antiquarian and a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a registered charity. It is based at Burlington House in Pi ...

. He died on 1 September 1898 aged 81.

Works

Ferguson was the author of several books, including: *''The shadow of the pyramid, a series of sonnets'' (1847) *''The Northmen in Cumberland & Westmoreland'' (1856) *''The Teutonic name-system applied to the family names of France, England, & Germany'' (1864) *''Surnames as a Science'' (1883)Surnames as a Science
/ref>

References

External links

* * * 1817 births 1898 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 Mayors of Carlisle, Cumbria Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Carlisle {{England-Liberal-UK-MP-stub