Letter: ​Time to honour Thomas MacGregor Greer - the man who financed the Ferguson System - with a blue plaque

A man who, as a friend and business partner of Harry Ferguson, rightfully deserves more credit for the important role in the financing of the Ferguson System.

Thomas MacGregor Greer, the only son of Thomas Greer, MP of Grove House, Regents Park, London and Sea Park, Carrickfergus was born on April 16, 1869 in Sea Park, Antrim.

In 1898 he inherited the lease of Tullylagan Manor, outside Cookstown, County Tyrone, moving there to live shortly afterwards.

From 1916-1937 Greer put up much of the development costs of the Ferguson System which in court records was stated to be £156,350. Greer actually owned the right to the Ferguson brand name, and much of the testing, development and perfection of the Ferguson System by the autumn of 1935 was undertaken at Tullylagan Manor and is why County Tyrone is rightfully known as the home of the Ferguson System.

In an understanding with Harry Ferguson, the world’s first production Ferguson System tractor the Ferguson-Brown Type A made by David Brown in Huddersfield, England for Harry Ferguson was to go to Greer.

The first example and without doubt the most important production tractor in history, serial number 1, a two furrow plough, and a general cultivator arrived in Northern Ireland on April 21, 1936, and to Tullylagan Manor in May, 1936.

They were used throughout the year for demonstration and show purposes including the 1936 Balmoral Show and officially sold to Greer on January 12, 1937. It was always understood Greer would get the first, to ensure his place in history and that County Tyrone would be the home of the first production Ferguson System tractor and plough.

Production of the Ferguson-Brown Type A would never achieve the mass production Ferguson and Greer wanted and in the autumn of 1938 when sales had reached just over 700, Harry Ferguson would make the Gentleman’s Agreement with Henry Ford in the USA. The result was the world’s first mass produced Ferguson System tractor the little grey Ford-Ferguson.

The first two Ford-Fergusons arrived in Northern Ireland in September 1939, serial number 917 being used for research and later the back end of which was sectioned by William Sands, Ferguson’s chief engineer, and made into the Ferguson System Demonstrator used by Ferguson on January 10, 1940 at Stormont.

It was later presented to Greer by Ferguson to show the immense gratitude owed for Greer’s constant belief in him, something Ferguson knew he could never truly repay.

Thomas MacGregor Greer would sadly pass away at Tullylagan Manor on June 9, 1941, aged 72, having lived to see the Ferguson System become a great worldwide success, fighting hunger and poverty. It played a vital part in the war effort in Northern Ireland in particular. By that time over 50,000 Ford-Ferguson tractors had been built and he knew how important a part he played in that success.

Perhaps now on the 85th anniversary year of his passing, a blue plaque can finally be erected to celebrate the man who financed the Ferguson System.

Stevan Patterson, Castlederg