AT THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 257, 26 July 1930, Page 31

AT THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS

Sir Charles Fergusson’s Return

The customary calm of the peaceful Girvan Valley, which is one of the most beautiful parts of Ayrshire, was suddenly snapped on a certain Saturday, when the train which brought Sir Charles Eergusson, Bt., home to Kilkerran House after serving for five years in the office of Governor-General of New Zealand, arrived. The Eergussons of Kilkerran are a much-lovcd family in Ayrshire, and Sir Charles’s home-coming was an event which those residing on the estate could not allow to pass without salutation. The railway officials entered into the scheme of things, and as the train bearing the seventh baronet of Kilkerran to his family seat approached the lazy little station the explosions of a series of fog signals sent the sheep scurrying from their grazing in near-by fields and roused the waiting tenants to lusty cheering. Gaily coloured bunting fluttered between the budding trees and the station house. When Sir Charles, who was accompanied by Lady Alice Eergusson and their eldest son, Mr. James Eergusson, stepped to the platform they were met by Mr. James Purves, factor of the estate; Mr. George Mowatt, overseer; Mr. John Eerguson, gamekeeper; Mr. John Grant, gardener; Colonel and Mrs. Houldsworth, and the Rev. W. G. Walker, St. Machar’s, Dailly. Lady Alice Eergusson was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Margaret Brown, the seven-year-old daughter of the Kilkerran signalman. In the course of a brief address, Sir Charles said it hardly seemed over five years since they went abroad, and Saturday was the day they had thought of and looked forward to ever since they had gone away. Now that the day had come, they were as happy as they could be to be back again in Ayrshire. Nevertheless, they had had a happy time abroad. The people of New Zealand had made them feel at home from the day on which they arrived in that country. Many of the people there had gone from this country 50 or 60 years ago. One found there the old, familiar names of people who talked in older and broader Scots than the people of Ayrshire did now.

Yet those people had never been out of New Zealand. They had learned their language from their fathers and grandfathers in days gone by. When they talked of home they meant this country, and they were wonderfully loyal to the Home country. He could only say that they were very happy to bo back among the people of Ayrshire, and he hoped they would again have the old happy friendships that had existed between Kilkerran and the people around for generations past. (Applause.) Since the dajs of King Robert I the Fergussons have been seated in Ayrshire. From that monarch, Fergus, son of Fergus, obtained a charter of certain lands in Carrick, Ayrshire. Robert the Bruce, as Earl of Carrick, was a near neighbour, his castle of Turnberry being only about seven miles from Kilkerran.

Sir Charles Fergusson was educated at Eton and Sandhurst, and joined the Grenadier Guards in 1883. He was wounded in the Sudan Expeditions of 1896-99, and in the European War he was mentioned in dispatches seven times. He was Military Governor of occupied German territory from 1918 to 1919, and retired from the Army in 1922. Two years later he was appointed Governor-General of New Zealand. In the same year the University of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D, He is a justice of the peace and Deputy-Lieutenant for Ayrshire.

Sir Charles is succeeded in the office of Governor-General of New Zealand by Lord Bledisloe.