Mary (Molly) Isolen Fergusson (28 April 1914, in

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

– 30 November 1997, in London) was a British civil engineer, the first female fellow of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

, elected in 1957.Haines, Catharine M. C., ''International women in science: a biographical dictionary to 1950'', p. 98

Early life and education

Molly Fergusson was born at Stoke, Devonport the daughter of Mildred Gladys Mercer and John N. Fraser Fergusson and was brought up in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, where her father made

radiography Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeut ...

equipment.Nina Baker, "Fergusson, Mary Isolen (Molly), in Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes, and Sian Reynolds, eds., ''The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women'' (University of Edinburgh Press 2007): 117. She was head girl at York College, graduated in civil engineering from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1936, and to complete her training was indentured for two years at Blyth and Blyth of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, unpaid for the first year.

Civil engineering work

She remained with the firm and worked on bridges and other infrastructure projects in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, becoming a corporate member of the

in 1939. She had probably been the first woman to be made a senior partner in a consulting engineering firm in 1948. That this firm was Blyth and Blyth, one of the most prestigious of Scottish firms, says much for her engineering ability and hard work. Encouraged by her medical father and her school, York College, she graduated from Edinburgh in engineering in 1936. She worked unpaid for a year for Blyth and Blyth before being put on the payroll at thirty shillings a week.making her the first female senior partner in a UK civil engineering firm in 1948. She was personally responsible for a number of engineering works. She assisted the senior partner designing a range of civil engineering projects, including bridges, drainage and sewerage schemes (e.g. the River Leven water purification works), and industrial projects (e.g. Markinch paper mills for Tullis Russell). The two-level pre-stressed concrete footbridge over the Gala Water at Galashiels included a spiral staircase and a sewer, and the concrete Devonside Bridge curved across the river to Tillicoultry. From the 1960s, the firm worked on examples of Scottish modernist architecture, working with architects from local authorities, and private practices, including some buildings for the University of Edinburgh. On 15 January 1957 she was the first woman to be elected as full member of Britain's senior engineering society, the

. In 1967 Fergusson was part of the organisational committee for the Second International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists. In 1971 she chaired the

Verena Holmes Verena Winifred Holmes (23 June 1889 – 20 February 1964) was an English mechanical engineer and multi-field inventor, the first woman member elected to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1924) and the Institution of Locomotive Engineers ...

Lecture, "Engineering the Environment" at the

Napier College Edinburgh Napier University is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napier. The ...

of Science and Technology, Edinburgh.

Later life

She retired from full-time work in 1978. Fergusson continued her engineering work as a consultant, using her fees to create and support a fund to help engineering students. She was active as a member of the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

and other community organisations.

Honours and awards

She was appointed OBE in the

1979 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1979 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

. She was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree at

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

in 1985, for her work in encouraging women to take up engineering careers. At a celebration of Fergusson's life, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at

, Clephane Hume remarked she was "A memorable lady, with a terrific sense of humour". A portrait of Fergusson was unveiled in June 2015 in the William Arrol building at

, where a

Hall of residence A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

is named after her. National Grid named a 510 tonne, 160-metre-long tunnel boring machine "Mary" after Fergusson, in honour of her status as the first female fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. It was used between 2018 and 2019 to bore a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under the

River Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the ...

as part of a project to secure 20% of Britain's gas supplies. In 2019 she was inducted into the

Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame honours "those engineers from, or closely associated with, Scotland who have achieved, or deserve to achieve, greatness", as selected by an independent panel representing Scottish engineering institutions, aca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fergusson, Mary Engineers from Devonport, Plymouth English civil engineers 1914 births 1997 deaths British women engineers 20th-century British engineers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century women engineers Women's Engineering Society Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame inductees