After being promoted to major-general in September 1908,[3] at the very young age (in peacetime) of just 43, he was appointed Inspector of Infantry in April 1909[4] and General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 5th Division in Ireland in 1913 – in this capacity he played a key role during the Curragh incident, ensuring his officers obeyed orders.[5]
He took the 5th Division to France in August 1914 shortly after the outbreak of the First World War.[5] He remained in command of the division during all of its early battles on the Western Front until he was suddenly removed from his command on 18 October, "ostensibly because he was being promoted to Lieutenant-General", with Major General Thomas Morland taking over.[6] The real reason, however, appears to be that Field Marshal Sir John French, commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, wanted Fergusson's removal, not believing that the latter had it in him to successfully command a division, despite the fact that Fergusson had been doing so for the past two months.[7]
Fergusson, promoted to lieutenant general,[8] then returned to the United Kingdom and briefly took command of the 9th (Scottish) Division, a newly created Kitchener's Army formation, from October to December 1914.[9] Returning to France, he commanded II Corps of the BEF from January 1915 onwards. In May 1916 he was moved on to take over XVII Corps, which he led until the end of the war, caused by the armistice with Germany, in November 1918.[5]
After the war Fergusson was a military governor of Cologne before he retired from the army in 1922.[2]
On 20 June 1929 Fergusson was involved in a railway accident, following the 1929 Murchison earthquake. Attached to the rear of a train leaving the National Dairy Show at Palmerston North with 200 passengers on board, the Viceregal carriage contained the Governor-General and his wife and other members of the Viceregal party. The train hit a slip between Paekākāriki and Pukerua Bay, with the locomotive falling down a steep bank and injuring the driver. The first three carriages of the train also left the rails, but the Viceregal carriage remained on the tracks, and Fergusson and his party suffered only minor cuts and bruises.[11]
The Reverend Simon Charles David Fergusson (born 5 June 1907, died 1982). He married Auriole Kathleen Hughes-Onslow, maternal granddaughter of Arthur Crofton, 4th Baron Crofton. They had two sons and two daughters, one of whom was Scottish MP Alex Fergusson.
Charles Fergusson (born 16 January 1917, died 22 January 1917)
Freemasonry
Fergusson was a Freemason. During his term as governor-general, he was also Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand.[13]
Later life
After his term in New Zealand, Fergusson became chairman of the West Indies Closer Union Commission and was Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire from 1937 until his death on 20 February 1951.
Arms
Coat of arms of Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet
Quarterly: 1st grandquarter Azure, a buckle Argent between three boars' heads couped Or armed and langued gules (Fergusson of Kilkerran) 2nd grandquarter, counterquartered; 1st and 4th Argent, an eagle displayed Sable beaked and membered Gules (Ramsay); 2nd and 3rd Gules, a chevron between three fleurs de lis Or (Broun of Colston): 3rd grandquarter, counterquartered; 1st and 4th Or, a lion rampant couped at all joints Gules within a double tressure flory counter flory Azure (Maitland); 2nd and 3rd Argent, a shakefork Sable (Cunningham of Glencairn): 4th grandquarter Or, on a saltire Azure nine lozenges of the first, on a bordure of the second eight mullets and as many boars' heads erased alternately Argent (Dalrymple of New Hailes).
Motto
Dulcius ex asperis (All the sweeter for having undergone bitterness); on compartment: Ut prosim aliis (May I profit others)