George Ferguson (colonial administrator)

George Ferguson (1748 – 29 December 1820) was the fourth Laird of Pitfour, a large estate in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, that became known as The Blenheim of the North.

Accusations were made by the commander of the British Fleet that the island was surrendered too easily but Ferguson was cleared of any blame at a subsequent enquiry.

[2] He had two older brothers, the eldest James (1736–1820) who became a politician and was the third Laird of Pitfour; and Patrick (1744–1780) who invented the Ferguson rifle, which was a breech-loading flintlock weapon.

[1] Ferguson was not healthy as a child and his sister wrote this description of him: "George, who is going on fourteen, has been tender, has more genious than application with a heart as warm and honest as you could wish".

Admiral Rodney had been in command of the British fleet overseeing the Invasion of Tobago and he levelled accusations against Stanhope and the Governor stating the island had been surrendered too easily.

[9] Although the Governor had returned to Britain, the generous terms of the surrender allowed him to retain ownership of all his property on the island, including a considerable number of slaves.

[16] The Scottish author Robert Chambers is reported to have written about the two brothers living at the High Street: "Don's Closes, in the Luckenbooths, and bearing the number 333, stands a land of no great antiquity or peculiar appearance, but remarkable for containing the house of Lord Pitfour, whose two sons continued to reside in it till their deaths in 1820...

[18] The Pitfour estate in the Buchan area of north east Aberdeenshire, Scotland had been purchased in 1700 by the first Laird, the Governor's grandfather.

If the confines of the law could not be met, the properties would all pass to the descendants of James Ferguson who owned the Kinmundy estate, which was adjacent to the lands of Pitfour.

[18] The law stated the Governor would have to survive for 60 days after he made his will for his illegitimate son to inherit; a further legal condition was that he had to be seen walking in public.

It included the extensive lands of Pitfour, which by that time stretched to over 30,000 acres, as well as all properties, sugar plantations and slaves in Trinidad and Tobago.

This was received with great chagrin by the neighbouring Kinmundy line of Fergusons, especially as the Governor's son was already heavily in debt at the time of his inheritance.