Born near Keith, Banffshire 25 April. Portrait miniaturist mostly in Indian ink. Hs parents were poor and, apart from learning to read, he seems to have had no formal education. Began life as a farm labourer before discovering he had an aptitude for mathematics. Studying the sky at night he became known locally as 'Ferguson the astronomer'. friends and patrons, notably Sir James Dunbar of Drum, enabled him to study in Edinburgh. In the early 1740s he moved to London and in 1746 advertised that he had moved from Compton Street to 'The White Perriwig in Great Pultney Street, London, drawing 'pictures as usual for 9 shillings, or goes abroad to do them for one half guinea.' His work was usually small, and finely drawn. Foskett records that 'the sitters' upper eyelids and eyebrows are usually strongly delineated'. His work was seldom if ever signed . A fine pen and ink portrait 'Prince Charles Edward Stuart', 2" in diameter, was sold in London 1972. Represented in the V&A, London and the National Galleries of Scotland.