Robert Ferguson of Raith

[3] Robert Ferguson was elected to the Whig parliament of 1806 for Fifeshire, but was not afterwards elected until the time of the Reform Bill, upon which he represented the Kirkcaldy district of Burghs from 1831 to 1835, and in the latter year was returned for Haddingtonshire, defeating Mr Hope, the Tory candidate, by 268 to 231 votes.

[4] Due to his amateur interests in mineralogy, in 1805 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

A major monument to Ferguson stands near the northern approach to Haddington designed by Robert Forrest in 1843.

The Earl sued Ferguson in both England and Scotland and won £10,000 (the current, 2016, equivalent of around £5 million).

Sir Henry Raeburn painted Ferguson in his youth (with his brother Ronald behind) in the picture "The Archers".