Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae, KT, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE (6 May 1911 – 28 November 1980)[1] was a British Army officer and military historian who served as the tenth governor-general of New Zealand from 1962 to 1967.

In 1942 he served briefly in the Joint Planning Staff in Delhi, before transferring to Orde Wingate's embryonic Chindit force experimenting with Long Range Penetration campaigns.

In October 1943 he was promoted to acting brigadier and given command of the 16th Infantry Brigade, which was converted into a Chindit formation for operations in the deep jungles of Burma miles behind Japanese lines.

He established a stronghold, "Aberdeen", in keeping with Wingate's strategic vision and led an unsuccessful assault on the airfields at Indaw before his Brigade was flown out.

[1] In May 1947, Farran's unit arrested 17-year-old Alexander Rubowitz, who was putting up posters in Jerusalem for a Zionist paramilitary organisation, Lehi.

[8][9] Fergusson commanded 1st Battalion, the Black Watch in Germany from 1948 to 1951, was Colonel (Intelligence) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), at Versailles.

He was an early and strong advocate for greater knowledge and respect on the part of pākehā (European) New Zealanders for Māori language and tikanga.

[10] Fergusson was created a life peer on 10 July 1972 as Baron Ballantrae, of Auchairne in the County of Ayrshire and The Bay of Islands in New Zealand[13] and made a Knight of the Thistle (KT) in 1974.

[14] Due to his relationship with Tainui, a Ngāruawāhia primary school, Te Kura Kaupapa o Bernard Fergusson, was named after him in 1966.