As an established heraldic artist both in the UK and abroad, my friend and colleague John Ferguson, who has died aged 96, produced exquisitely fine heraldic artwork for private clients, corporate bodies, civic authorities and international companies for more than 60 years.
John was born in Wimbledon, south London, to Norman, a clerk at the Admiralty research laboratory in Teddington, and his wife, Betty (nee Barrett), and went to Raynes Park boys’ school. When at an early age he was told by a teacher that he would never make an artist, since he made such a mess of his exercise books, it only increased his desire to be one. Despite the teacher’s foreboding, John later attended Wimbledon School of Art, where he studied graphic design. Here he came under the influence of an inspiring lecturer who introduced him to the world of heraldry. The seed was sown, and a lifelong love affair with this fascinating subject began.
At a little over 17, John took the entrance examination for the Royal College of Art. He waited impatiently for the result which arrived a few weeks later – in the same post as his call-up papers for military service. He served in Burma until the end of the war.
On demobilisation, studies were resumed at the RCA and John graduated in 1950. There followed nine years of graft at a West End advertising agency designing trademarks, corporate identity schemes, posters and exhibition stands. However, John’s heraldic interests were still latent: whenever a request came into the studio that required a shield or a lion rampant the cry would go up, “Give it to Fergie – he’s good at that sort of thing!”
In 1959 John left the agency to establish his own freelance practice as a heraldic artist and in 1961 he was invited to join the staff of the Guildford School of Art as a lecturer in graphic design.
Shortly after his appointment, the Guildford and Farnham art schools amalgamated in the newly established West Surrey College of Art and Design, where John became a senior lecturer and joined his old friends Anthony Wood and Dan Escott to work on the prestigious heraldry and calligraphy course they had established at Reigate.
For John, heraldry opened many doors, demanding of him all his imagination and undoubted ability as a draughtsman and graphic designer. It required him to experiment with giving two-dimensional colour a deeper dimension, enabling it to glow like enamel. Above all, it instilled in him a love of and respect for fine craftsmanship; he relished the day-to-day challenge of heraldic design and was constantly inspired by the example of others. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Heraldic Arts, and is now recognised as pre-eminent among the heraldic artists of his generation.
John met his wife, Barbara (nee Baird), as a fellow student at Wimbledon Art School, and she also went on to the RCA. The couple were married in 1948, a union which lasted happily until Barbara’s death in 2014. He is survived by their four children, Andy, Sarah, Kirstie and Katie.
