Sir Ronald Craufurd Ferguson (1773-1841), General

Sitter in 6 portraits
Ferguson entered the Army in 1790 before attending the Berlin Academy and studying the Prussian military. He was promoted to captain on his return to England in 1793 and was sent to Flanders on the outbreak of war with France. The following year Ferguson, still only twenty-one, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and sent to India. He was among those who captured the Cape of Good Hope in 1795, after which he returned to India. Forced to return to England through ill health, Ferguson was elected as a Whig MP in 1806. He distinguished himself in Parliament by his radicalism, unusual for an Army officer. He last saw active service in the Peninsular War in 1809.