Sir Charles Dalrymple Fergusson, 5th Baronet of KilkerranFRSE was a Scottish lawyer.
Life
He was born at Fort George in Inverness-shire on 26 August 1800. He was the eldest son of Sir James Fergusson, fourth baronet, and his wife Jean Dalrymple, daughter of Sir David Dalrymple, baronet. He was educated at Harrow, and became an advocate in 1822, practising at the Scottish bar until his father's death. He was a member of the Speculative Society, and at its meetings read two essays, one on the Origin and Progress of Criminal Jurisprudence, and the other on the History of Painting. Fergusson was an active promoter of almost every scheme of usefulness throughout Scotland. The county of Ayr, in which his seat was, was especially indebted to his active aid in its agricultural, charitable, and religious institutions. He was the originator of the Ayrshire Educational Association, and at his own expense built many schools and churches. He was returned to the general assembly of the church of Scotland, as a lay representative for Ayr. He did much towards extending the usefulness and efficiency of the church, and in the sittings of its legislative body his counsels had great weight. A decided conservative in his political principles, both in church and state, Fergusson was yet strongly averse to the strife and turmoil of political life, and was remarkably tolerant in his sentiments. Though repeatedly urged by his friends, he could never be induced to seek election for his native county. To the last he was an able and zealous supporter of the cause of. Himself a colonial proprietor, he severely condemned the free trade legislation of Sir Robert Peel, which he believed must have an injurious effect upon the British colonies. In 1829 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposer was Norwich Duff. In 1837, Fergusson succeeded to the estates of his grandfather, Lord Hailes, in East and Mid Lothian, and in 1838 to those of his father in Ayrshire, on which he constantly lived. He inherited Newhailes, and the Lordship and Barony of Hailes in 1839, on the death of his aunt, Miss Christian Dalrymple. He died at Inveresk 18 March 1849. The grave lies in the extreme north-west corner of the first Victorian extension, west of the original churchyard.
His Ayrshire tenants raised a monument to his memory. Fergusson's estate of Hailes in Haddingtonshire and Mid Lothian descended to his second son, Charles, who assumed the name of Dalrymple, as representing his great-grandfather, Sir David Dalrymple, 1st Baronet,, but the baronetcy of Hailes was extinct. In the title and estates of Fergusson of Kilkerran, Fergusson was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, M.P., sometime governor, successively, of South Australia, New Zealand, and Bombay, and subsequently under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, to which he was appointed in August 1886.
