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Revolutionary Wee Grey Fergie                              8/2/10

 

 

A new documentary on BBC Alba being shown tonight explores the history of the man who revolutionised the tractor.

 

The programme Am Fergie Beag Glas (The Wee Grey Fergie) explores Harry Ferguson's achievements.

 

Ferguson revolutionised farming in the early 20th century by inventing a hydraulic system, still found in every tractor today. An accomplished pilot, engineering genius and effective salesman, Ferguson is so revered in his native Northern Ireland that his face now graces their £20 notes. However, at the largest agricultural exhibition in the Scottish Highlands last year, most of those asked knew very little about Harry Ferguson himself.

 

Born in 1884 in Dromore, Co Down, fourth of eleventh children, Harry Ferguson began his career mending bicycles in his brother's garage.  Within a few years he had developed a hydraulic system that united tractor and plough in one unit, giving depth control and lift at the touch of a lever.  Not only did this revolutionise ploughing it also ended the age-old problem of ploughs getting caught on stones and boulders which at times had terrible consequences, causing tractors to topple over, injuring and sometimes even killing their driver.

 

By 1939, Ferguson’s determination gained him a manufacturing deal in the US with world-renowned motor giant, Henry Ford and by the 1970s, Ferguson's system was used in 80 per cent of tractors worldwide. Though Ferguson had many inventions, his last tractor, the TE20, better known as the Wee Grey Fergie, is perhaps the best remembered.

 

In the programme, Am Fergie Beag Glas (The Wee Grey Fergie) we get a glimpse of the vast Ferguson collection held by crofter Donald A MacLeod in Lochgilphead.  Donald, who was originally from the Isle of Skye, sadly died last year, aged 72.  His close friend, Allan Campbell also from Skye, presents and narrates this film, says that Donald always wanted to see Ferguson's story told, but he sadly died before his dream could be realised.

 

Allan said: "Donald Macleod collected them because he appreciated this tractor's history. Looking at Harry Ferguson's life and engineering, he saw something with a lasting effect and which improved the farmer's life. I think it was the extent of his dream, (Ferguson) which left Donald captivated by this man."

 

Though the Fergie was affordable to many crofters, Ferguson had to work hard to convince them as many were loathed to lose their trusted horses in favour of this new technology.  But Ferguson knew that his tractor could save them time, effort and money.

 

When the farmers and crofters did come round they found it had its uses on and off the field!  Cailean MacDonald, from Inverness, recalls: "I took our tractor to dances in Carloway when I was about 17. I offered a girl a lift home but she thought I had a car!  When I came out, I put on my yellow whaler’s oilskins but she wasn't willing to go home with me at all that night. I took her home since then though."

 

Dòmhnall Meek, from Tiree, recalls how his Dad got a Ferguson TE20 in 1946 and everyone wanted their photograph taken with it. "It was very special. It was an iron horse, friendly and loyal."

 

70 years on The Wee Grey Fergie is still working reliably and is very much loved.

 

Am Fergie Beag Glas (The Wee Grey Fergie) was produced for BBC ALBA by MacTV and is being broadcast on Monday  8th February at 9pm.