GRANT-FERGUSON Ian Alexander

Captain, Royal Scots.
Born August 2nd, 1897. Killed in France, May, 1916.
Ian Ferguson entered the School House in September, 1911, in Form IV. When he left at the age of 17 he was head of the Modern Side in the Lower Sixth, had won the School Leaving certificate and was Lance-Corporal with Certificate ‘A’ in the O.T.C. He intended to enter the Law in Scotland, but the War broke out before his last School Camp had ended, and in September, in spite of his youth, he obtained a commission in the Royal Scots. He was soon selected for training as Machine Gun Officer, was promoted as Lieutenant in June, 1915, and obtained his Captaincy in September, 1915, when just 18, after the battle of Loos, which he went through safely and with much credit as Machine Gun Officer of his Battalion. In April a shell entered his dugout and he was killed instantaneously, almost immediately after his return to the front from leave. He was the son of the late Reverend J.G. Ferguson, Innerleithen, Peebles, whose widow had already lost her elder son, also an O.V., Lieutenant Duncan Grant Ferguson, K.O.S.B., who died of wounds in France a year ago – to whom we tender our deepest sympathy. His early call came as a shock to many. He was a young officer of great promise, with an exceptional gift for modern languages, unusually popular, and one who made many friends. A fellow-officer writes of him, “His death is felt as a personal loss by the whole Battalion. I shall never forget the impression his bright, splendid personality made.” A school-fellow truly writes of him: “Such good sort, so generous and wholehearted.” Of such his school is proud.
W. H. C.

Source for additional information: The Vigornian, July 1916, No.86, Vol.VIII

A Memorial Service for The Men of Worcester and the Neighbourhood who have laid down their lives in the war was held in Worcester Cathedral on All Saints Day, 1916 at 7.30pm. Capt. I.A.G. Ferguson, Royal Scots is listed on the Roll of Honour in the service booklet under Old Vigornians.

A photograph of Captain Ian Grant Ferguson can be found in Berrow’s Worcester Journal Supplement, Saturday 3rd June 1916, available at Worcestershire Archives.

Ian Grant-Ferguson.  Photograph courtesy and copyright of Kings School Archives.