[3] The first person to accomplish powered flight in the UK was Alliot Verdon Roe in June 1908,[4] who also flew an aeroplane of his own design, but this had not yet been achieved in Ireland.

Ferguson began to develop a keen interest in the mechanics of flying and travelled to several air shows, including exhibitions in 1909 at Blackpool and Rheims where he took notes of the design of early aircraft.

[5] After falling out with his brother over the safety and future of aviation Ferguson decided to go it alone, and in 1911 founded a company selling Maxwell, Star and Vauxhall cars and Overtime Tractors.

Ferguson and his team of longtime colleagues, including Willie Sands and Archie Greer, soon developed a hydraulic version, which was patented in 1926.

[citation needed] The new enterprise manufactured the Ferguson plough incorporating the patented "Duplex" hitch system mainly intended for the Fordson "F" tractor.

[8] A production version of the "Black" was introduced in May 1936, made at one of the David Brown factories in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and designated Ferguson Model A tractor.

[citation needed] As a consequence of Dagenham's failure to make the tractors, Harry Ferguson made a deal with Sir John Black[13] of the Standard Motor Company to refit their armaments factory at Banner Lane, Coventry.

Ferguson’s investment enabled the company to produce a series of research vehicles with a system that allowed the car to be run with four-wheel drive permanently engaged and automatically controlled whenever traction was lost and wheels began to slip, unlike such vehicles like Land Rover, the system of which could not be used on hard roads.

However, the industry proved impossible to convince and when Ferguson died in 1960, his son-in-law, Tony Sheldon took over the chairmanship and changed the company’s approach, developing instead four-wheel drive systems that manufacturers could fit in their standard production vehicles.

In the hands of Stirling Moss, it won the 1961 Oulton Park Gold Cup, becoming the only four-wheel drive grand prix car to win a race.

A series of twenty-two Ford Zephyr V6 MkIV saloons were fitted with four-wheel drive for use by various British police forces and although they made a huge improvement to the handling of these large cars in all weathers, they were expensive to build and run.

When GKN took out a licence to build Ferguson Formula components at greatly reduced costs, it looked likely that a four-wheel drive Ford Capri might be made, but the plan fell through.

In 1971, after more than twenty years of trying and not achieving the results that were expected, Tony Sheldon finally called a halt to the expense and closed Harry Ferguson Research.

[14] A blue plaque commemorating Ferguson is mounted on the Ulster Bank building in Donegall Square, Belfast, the former site of his showroom.