William Fergusson (colonial administrator)
William Fergusson (1795-1846) was a British army surgeon and governor of the British colony of Sierra Leone on two occasions.
Fergusson was born in Jamaica and in 1809 became the first mixed race student known to have matriculated at the University of Edinburgh.[1] He obtained his surgeon's diploma in 1813 and went to Sierra Leone as an army hospital assistant in 1815. He was appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon to the Royal African Colonial Corps in 1824, and as a medical staff officer of the Liberated African Department from 1826, he took a particular interest in the health of the ex-slave population of Sierra Leone.[2]
In 1840, the Governor of Sierra Leona, Richard Doherty, appointed Fergusson, now staff surgeon for the colony, to the Council of Government. Fergusson became Lieutenant-Governor in 1841 and Governor in 1845.[3]
William Fergusson took leave from his position in December 1845 to travel to England for medical treatment. However, he died at sea on 19 January 1846.[4]
References[]
- ^ "1809 – William Fergusson, the first known black student of the University of Edinburgh, matriculates – UncoverED".
- ^ Paton, Adele (1996). Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1432-8.
- ^ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/20487/page/2069/data.pdf[bare URL]
- ^ Paton, Adele (1996). Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1432-8.
  | This article about a Sierra Leonean politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . |
- 1795 births
- 1846 deaths
- Governors of Sierra Leone
- British Army regimental surgeons
- 18th-century Jamaican people
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Sierra Leonean politician stubs