Harry Ferguson, ‘mad mechanic’ who grew into a true revolutionary

Henry George (Harry) Ferguson, the man whose name is most closely linked with the development of the modern agricultural tractor, was born on his family’s farm at Growell, between Hillsborough and Dromore in Co Down, on November 4 1884.

In 1902 Harry started work as an apprentice in his brother Joe’s car and cycle repair business in Belfast. He quickly developed a passion for motorbikes and aviation.

In religious and socio-economic terms Harry had a background very similar to that of Wilbur and Orville Wright who had made the first powered flight in a heavier-than-air-craft across a coastal sand dune near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17 1903. Harry took a very keen interest in their exploits. He attended several air meetings and exhibitions, making visits to France in 1907 and 1908, and was inspired to design and build his own monoplane.

On December 31 1909 Harry made the first powered flight in Ireland in a monoplane of his own design. He piloted it for some 130 yards, 12 foot above the ground, at Old Park, Hillsborough. On August 8 1910 Ferguson made the first flight of significant distance on this island – three miles – at Dundrum Bay, near Newcastle, Co Down, winning £100.

On August 9 1910 News Letter readers would have encountered the following brief account in their morning newspaper:

‘Yesterday evening Mr Harry Ferguson flew a distance of almost three miles over the Newcastle foreshore, in the presence of a large number of people. He rose near Dundrum Bar, and flew at heights varying from 50 to 100 feet, and alighted safely on a strip of sand near Blackrock. The crowds along the beach cheered lustily as the aviator passed. Mr Ferguson has now fulfilled his contract with the Sports Committee, and is to be congratulated on his very successful flight.’

A granite memorial on the North Promenade in Newcastle commemorates Ferguson’s pioneering flight. A full-scale replica of the Ferguson monoplane may be seen at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra. Strictly speaking, this exhibit is rather more than replica because it incorporates some original parts of Harry’s plane, not least the seat.

Early flying was an extremely dangerous business. For example, in 1908 Orville Wright’s plane crashed, injuring him and killing his passenger. Five days before Louis Blériot’s first flight across the English Channel (from the Sangatte cliffs near Calais to Dover Castle) on July 25 1909 an attempt by Herbert Latham had ended when he had ditched in the sea.

At one stage Harry was referred to as ‘the mad mechanic’. It has been observed, perhaps anecdotally rather than with absolute accuracy, that Harry spent more time crashing than he actually did flying. On one occasion a gust of wind caused his aircraft to somersault, the result being that both Harry and the engine fell out.

Harry’s safety was a matter of serious concern to Joe Ferguson, so much so that the two brothers rowed and parted company. Joe could not see why Harry should risk his life. After several close shaves, Harry gave up flying at the request of Maureen Watson, a Dromore girl whom he had married in 1913.

Harry opened his own car business in May Street, Belfast, in 1911. He subsequently relocated in Donegall Square East.

As a firm Unionist, he was strong opponent of Home Rule and a supporter of the Ulster Volunteer Force in the years before the Great War.

In 1914 he began to sell American tractors but, finding them heavy and dangerous to operate, he designed and built a new plough which was coupled to the tractor in three-point linkage, so that both formed a single unit. The three point attachment is the simplest and the only statically definite way of joining two bodies in engineering. The three points resemble either a triangle, or the letter A. Its simplicity has made it an industry standard. This Ferguson System, patented in 1926, was to revolutionise farming.

The prototype was built in Belfast. In 1936 Harry started manufacturing his own tractors. Three years later in a famous ‘hand-shake’ agreement with Henry Ford, Harry became the only partner Henry Ford ever had. Over 300,000 of the new Ford Ferguson tractors were manufactured. This tractor contributed enormously to wartime food production, but Ferguson’s real intention was to raise living standards throughout the world.

‘Agriculture,’ Harry said in 1943, ‘should have been the first industry to be modernised, not the last’. Harry’s tractors played a major part in the mechanisation of British agriculture during and after the Second World War but his impact was, in truth, worldwide.

In June 1947 Harry’s unwritten contract was repudiated by Ford’s grandson. In response Harry built his own factory in Detroit close to Ford’s major plant and recorded sales of $33 million in 1949. Harry also took legal action against Henry Ford II, winning $9.25 million in compensation in April 1952 after a protracted legal suit.

Harry also designed a lightweight tractor, the TC-20, or ‘Wee Fergie.’ These were assembled by Standard Motor Company of Coventry. About half a million of these were made. He entered into another tempestuous partnership, this time with Massey-Harris of Toronto, to form the Massey-Ferguson Company.

Throughout his life he was an enthusiast for and an assiduous promoter of motor cycle and car racing. His efforts secured the passage of the Road Races Act (1932) at Stormont. This legislation made possible the first Ulster Grand Prix. He also lobbied the R.A.C. to organise the famous Tourist Trophy motor cycle races which took place between 1928 and 1936.

In his final years he concentrated on designing four-wheel-drive cars. He died in Stow-on-the Wold on October 25 1960.

In 2008 the Harry Ferguson Memorial gardens were opened, opposite the house he lived in, just outside Dromara. A life-size bronze sculpture of Ferguson by John Sherlock was erected in the garden depicting Ferguson leaning on a fence surveying the view.