Harry Ferguson
| Harry Ferguson | |
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_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1739481.jpg)
The 2008 sculpture of Harry Ferguson at Dromara
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| Born | Henry George Ferguson 4 November 1884 County Down, Ireland, United Kingdom |
| Died | 25 October 1960 (aged 75) Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Engineering |
| Known for | Inventor of modern tractor |
Henry George "Harry" Ferguson (4 November 1884 – 25 October 1960) was an Irish-born British engineer and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor, for being the first person in Great Britain or Ireland to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99. Today his name lives on in the name of the Massey Ferguson company.
Ferguson was born at Growell, near Dromore, County Down, Ireland (present-day Northern Ireland), the son of a farmer. In 1902, Ferguson went to work with his brother, Joe, in his bicycle and car repair business. While working there as a mechanic, he developed an interest in aviation, visiting airshows abroad. In 1904, he began to race motorcycles.
In the 1900s the young Harry Ferguson became fascinated with the newly emerging technology of powered human flight and particularly with the exploits of the Wright brothers, the American aviation pioneers who made the first plane flight in 1903 in North Carolina, USA.
In the UK, the first-ever sustained powered flight was made in October 1908 by the American aviator Samuel Franklin Cody, and the first Briton to accomplish powered flight in the UK was John Moore-Brabazon in May 1909, 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. Harry convinced his brother that they should attempt to build an aircraft at their Belfast workshop and working from Harry's notes, they worked on the design of a plane, the Ferguson monoplane.
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