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Lt. John White Ferguson DCM.
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Hood Btn.
from:Regents Park, London
(d.4th Jun 1915 )
Johnnie Ferguson was killed in action on the 4th June 1915 aged 25 and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey. He was the son of John Ferguson of 1 Gloucester Gate, Regents Park, London
According to a newspaper cutting, he had been previously in the Antwerp Expedition where he gained the D.C.M. and went to the Dardanelles in March 1915. Johnnie was the younger son of Mr John Ferguson of Messrs Ramage and Ferguson, shipbuilders in Leith and Govan; His mother was Catherine Rachel Pickersgill. Although Johnnie was brought up in London, he was apprenticed to his father in 1908 and was presumably living in Scotland when war broke out. It is believed that Johnnie’s uncle, William Russell-Ferguson, funded the erection of a WW1 memorial in Appin, Argyllshire where he, William, lived, that includes Johnnie’s name. It is assumed that this was because there was no other memorial in Britain that included his name.
Helene has two letters written to his father on 17th May and 27th May from the Dardanelles. These give very detailed descriptions of what he was experiencing. She also has one from D.W. Cassie, written from ‘H.M.T.S.1, Near Alexandria’, to Johnnie’s father, reporting Johnny’s death. Cassie says: "I got his, or most of his, official papers and maps. I wanted to get his ring and cigarette case to send home to you but the danger was too great for me to wait and it couldn’t be done. The Hood Battalion is now practically at an end. We have only three officers and 120 men left now, so we no longer count, but before I close I should like to say that I, nor anyone in the Battalion can pay enough tribute to Johnnie’s bravery and gallantry, he died in action, he led his men. .... I am on my way now to Alexandria in charge of 350 Turkish prisoners. It was been given me as a sort of rest after that terrible action."
