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Herman Arend Ferguson (25 February 1911 – 10 April 1997) was a Dutch civil engineer and hydraulic engineer who contributed to water management in The Netherlands. He played a central role in the recovery efforts following the inundation of Walcheren in 1944, and the works to repair the significant damage caused by the North Sea flood of 1953. He held senior positions at Rijkswaterstaat, authored several key publications on hydraulic engineering, and was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Life and career

Herman Arend Ferguson was born on 25 February 1911 in Voorburg, the son of George Ferguson and Francesca Hermina van den Brandhof. He was of Scottish ancestry. He graduated in 1938 with a degree in Civil Engineering from Delft University of Technology. After graduation, he joined Rijkswaterstaat (the Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management), where he was employed in the Studiedienst (Study Department) of the Directie Benedenrivieren (Directorate for the Lower Rivers).

During 1945–46, Ferguson was part of the Dienst Droogmaking Walcheren (Service for the Reclamation of Walcheren), which was established to oversee the reclamation of the island of Walcheren after the intentional inundation of the island during World War II. The character Rafelding in the non-fiction novel Het verjaagde water by A. den Doolaard is based on Ferguson.

Afterwards, Ferguson moved to Vlissingen and worked for Rijkswaterstaat's Dienst Dijkherstel Zeeland (Service for Dike Repair Zeeland) following the North Sea flood of 1953. He became head of the Waterloopkundige Afdeling (Hydraulic Engineering Division) of the Delta Service from 1956 to 1960, and subsequently headed the Rotterdamse Waterweg arrondissement (Rotterdam Waterway District). Ferguson was appointed Chief Engineering Director of the Directie Benedenrivieren (Directorate for the Lower Rivers, 1962–1969) and later of the Delta Service (1969–1976), where he contributed to significant water engineering projects, including the Delta Works and the improvement of the Nieuwe Waterweg.

Ferguson was deeply involved in the design and construction of the Haringvliet sluices, which were critical for water flow regulation and flood protection in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt Delta. He also contributed to the closure of tidal inlets including the Haringvliet and Brouwershavense Gat, major Delta Works schemes which were required to ensure that flood risks were mitigated.

Publications

Ferguson authored and contributed to numerous technical reports and publications over his career, including:

• Benedenrivieren in de jaren zestig: persoonlijke herinneringen van een hoofdingenieur-directeur (Lower Rivers in the 1960s: Personal Memories of a Chief Engineer-Director, 1995)
• Dialoog met de Noordzee (Dialogue with the North Sea, 1991), an exploration of the influence of human intervention on the Dutch Delta.
• Delta-visie: een terugblik op veertig jaar natte waterbouw in Zuidwest Nederland (Delta Vision: A Retrospective on Forty Years of Hydraulic Engineering in Southwest Netherlands, 1988)
• De Nederlandse delta: een compromis tussen milieu en techniek in de strijd tegen het water (The Dutch Delta: A Compromise Between Environment and Technique in the Battle Against Water, 1983)
• Zes-baksduwvaart: een studie naar algemene en nautische aspekten (Six-Barge Push Towage: A Study of General and Nautical Aspects, 1983)
• Nota over de concentratie van waterbouwkundige werken in een aparte dienst (Note on the Concentration of Hydraulic Engineering Works in a Separate Service, 1972)
• De waterstaatkundige veranderingen in Deltagebied en hun invloed op het Waterstaatsbeheer (Hydrological Changes in the Delta Region and Their Impact on Water Management, 1965)
• Golfonderzoek in het deltagebied (Wave Research in the Delta Region, 1959)
• Waterloopkundig onderzoek voor ontwerp en uitvoering der sluitgaten in de deltadammen (Hydraulic Research for the Design and Construction of Closure Gaps in the Delta Dams, 1958)
• De zoutbeweging op de Rotterdamsche Waterweg in het bijzonder bij geringe opperwater-afvoer (Salt Movement on the Rotterdam Waterway Especially During Low Surface Water Discharge, 1957)
• Herstellings- en verbeteringswerken na de ramp van 1 februari 1953 (Restoration and Improvement Works After the Disaster of 1 February 1953, 1954)
• Verslag over de toestand der oevers en stranden in Zeeland 1951 VI: oevers langs Keeten, Mastgat en Zijpe (Report on the Condition of Banks and Beaches in Zeeland 1951 VI: Banks Along Keeten, Mastgat, and Zijpe, 1953)
• Verslag over de waarnemingen met de "Oceaan" in het mondingsgebied van de Westerschelde (Report on Observations with the "Ocean" in the Mouth Area of the Western Scheldt, 1943)
• Inleiding tot de getijberekening (Introduction to Tide Calculation, 1943).

Most of these publications are maintained in electronic format by the Rijkswaterstaat archive.

Awards

Ferguson was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and his contributions to the scientific underpinning of the Delta Works Plan earned him an honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology in 1987.

See also

• Delta Works
• Flood control in the Netherlands
• Rijkswaterstaat

References

1. Berkemeijer, Roeland. "Herman Arend Ferguson ir (1911-1997) » Berkemeijer Genealogie » Genealogy Online". Genealogy Online. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
2. "H.A. Ferguson". kennisbank-waterbouw.nl. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
3. Ferguson, H.A.; Dronkers, J.J. (1947). Het Eems estuarium [The Ems Estuary] (Report) (in Dutch). Rijkswaterstaat. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
4. Den Doolaard, A. (1947). Het verjaagde water [Roll Back the Sea] (in Dutch). N.V. Em. Querido Uitgeversmaatschappij.
5. "Herman Arend Ferguson". Flevolands geheugen (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 January 2025.
6. Ferguson, H.A.; Van de Kerk, J.; Van Aartsen, J.; Dibbits, H.A.M.C. (1968). 50 jaar vereniging van ingenieurs van de Rijkswaterstaat en de Zuiderzeewerken 1918-1969 [50 Years of the Association of Engineers of Rijkswaterstaat and the Zuiderzee Works 1918-1969] (Report) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 January 2025.
7. Ferguson, H.A.; Blokland, P.; Kuiper, H. (1970). "The Haringvliet Sluices". Rijkswaterstaat Communications (11). Retrieved 2 January 2025 – via TU Delft Repository.
8. ^ Ferguson, H.A. (1988). Delta-visie: een terugblik op 40 jaar natte waterbouw in Nederland [Delta Vision: A Retrospective on 40 Years of Hydraulic Engineering in the Netherlands] (Report) (in Dutch). Rijkswaterstaat. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
9. Ferguson, H.A. (1995). Benedenrivieren in de jaren zestig: persoonlijke herinneringen van een hoofdingenieur-directeur [Lower Rivers in the 1960s: Personal Memories of a Chief Engineer-Director]. Rijkswaterstaat-serie, Directoraat-Generaal Rijkswaterstaat (54) (in Dutch). Den Haag: Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat. p. 60. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
10. "Benedenrivieren in de jaren zestig : persoonlijke herinneringen van een hoofdingenieur-directeur". Rijkswaterstaat Publicatie Platform (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 January 2025.
11. Ferguson, Herman Arend (1991). Dialoog met de Noordzee: Tweeduizend jaar deltawerken (in Dutch). AMAboeken. ISBN 978-90-6474-702-1.
12. "Homepage". Rijkswaterstaat Publicatie Platform (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 January 2025.
13. "Decoration H.A. Ferguson| Nationaal Archief" (PDF). www.nationaalarchief.nl. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
14. "Honorary doctorates". TU Delft. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2025.

External links

• Trésor der Hollandsche Waterbouw – Digital repository of publications by H.A. Ferguson

• 1911 births
• 1997 deaths
• Dutch engineers
• Hydraulic engineering
• Delft University of Technology alumni
• Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology
• 20th-century Dutch engineers