Ferguson, David, c1857-1936, mining engineer, Glasgow, Scotland,

David Ferguson , a Mining Engineer, was born in Glasgow c. 1857 and died 8 March 1936 . He matriculated as a mature student at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (now the University of Strathclyde) in 1904 and took classes in Technical Chemistry (from 1905-1906) and Electrical Engineering (1906-1907). He also studied at the University of Glasgow between 1905 and 1908 and took classes in geology, mineralogy. However, Ferguson did not graduate from either institution and possibly only took the classes to further his work.

Prior to his university career he worked as a surveyor and mining engineer, although he is also known as a geologist and Antarctic explorer. Through his work as a mining surveyor and engineer Ferguson kept detailed notes of both his work, such as calculations, maps and field notes, and his travels and some volumes read as travel journals. They detail his visits to Africa, Iran, Newfoundland and locations in Great Britain.

The Hunterian Museum's largest collection of Antarctic rocks were collected by Ferguson on geological survey expeditions commissioned by Christian Salvesen and company between 1911 and 1915. During this time Ferguson made many notes which include hand-drawn maps of the areas that he visited. In fact, Ferguson produced the first detailed geological mapping of Antarctica in 1911-12 during the First Salvesen Prospecting Expedition, and was among the first to geologically investigate the South Shetland Islands, Graham Land and the Belgica Strait.

His papers, which for many years were thought to be lost, give further details of his expeditions and surveys. Apart from the material held in the archive, relatively little is known of Ferguson. He appeared to work with smaller expeditions and as a result did not achieve notoriety as an Antarctic geologist, although this does not make his discoveries and collections any less important.

From the guide to the Papers of David Ferguson, c1857-1936, mining engineer, Glasgow, Scotland, 1888-1936, (Glasgow University Archive Services)