Robert Fergusson - Life

Life

Robert Fergusson was born in Cap and Feather Close, a vennel off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, later demolished to make way for what is today the North Bridge. His parents, William and Elizabeth (née Forbes), were originally from Aberdeenshire, but had moved to the city two years previously. He was the third of three surviving children by them. He received formal schooling at the city's Royal High School and the High School of Dundee, leading to matriculation into the University of St Andrews with the assistance of a clan Fergusson bursary in 1765.

In May 1768 Fergusson returned to Edinburgh. His father had died the previous year, his sister Barbara had married, and his older brother Harry had recently left Scotland, enlisting with the Royal Navy after a business failure. This probably left Fergusson, who had not completed his studies, to support their mother. Any possibility of family support from his maternal uncle, John Forbes of Round Lichnot near Auld Meldrum, ceased when his uncle permanently disowned him after a quarrel. Fergusson, who had rejected the church, medicine and law as career options open to him due to his university training, finally settled in Edinburgh as a copyist, the occupation of his father.