Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Ferguson, Nicola
Parallel form(s) of name
- Ferguson, Nicky
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1949-2007
History
Born Nicola Hilland Stewart in Belfast on December 23rd 1949, Nicky was schooled in England and Northern Ireland. She achieved a first class degree in psychology at Edinburgh University in 1972, going on to complete her doctorate in 1975. She married James Ferguson in 1970. As well as teaching, in her 30's Nicky became a self-taught gardening expert, conducting much pf her research in the library of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and producing 3 books, the last published posthumously with the help of Charles Quest-Ritson: 'Right Plant, Right Place' (1986), 'Take Two Plants' (1998) and 'Double Flowers' (2018).
From her obituary: 'She somehow combined profound intellectual self-confidence with total modesty about herself and her achievements... Friends in distress found that she was the first to offer help and the last to claim credit. When her last years were afflicted, though never marred, by illness, very few people were allowed to discover the fact.' She died on 25 August 2007, leaving her husband James, two sons and a daughter.