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Changkat Kinding Estate Bungalow And The Ferguson Family
The picture shows the Changkat Kinding Estate Bungalow built by James Scott Ferguson JP, known as Fergie to all, in the 1920s. It was his bungalow from which to run, initially a small tea estate and later a rubber plantation. The photograph was taken by Audrey Ferguson, daughter in law of Fergie and wife to his son Bill.
Born in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1888, he came to Malaya in 1908 as a sugar planter, but by the 1920s, sugar had proved unsuccessful for any bulk production. Consequently in 1924 he joined Wilde and Co, Visiting Agents. Around the same time he started Changkat Kinding Estate, first with tea and then switched to rubber. Locally this was a famous estate where the wives of the rubber tappers could also work along with their husbands to increase their income, as in 1928 his management of this estate appointed an old lady to baby sit the workers children while they were away tapping rubber. In 1930 the estate then built a small school measuring 36 feet square as a classroom able to accommodate children of the estate workers. One of the workers, Mr Sanjeevy was appointed to teach the students in the evenings. At night the building was used as the “ drama theatre”. From this small beginning grew Changkat Kinding’s Tamil school, SJK Tamil Changkat Kinding.
An elder of the Presbyterian Church of St Andrew’s in Ipoh, as the Japanese invaders moved south in 1941, Fergie was evacuated, but returned to Malaya in 1945 as the Officer in charge of the Rehabilitation of Estates and Chairman of the Central Perak Planting Association. He returned to Changkat Kinding Estate in 1946 with his wife Helen, three sons and two daughters. He passed away in October 1950 at the Batu Gajah Hospital, Perak. The family, apart from two sons Freddie and Bill, returned to Scotland.
Bill Ferguson, with his wife Audrey, than ran Changkat Kinding Estate while he indulged in his favourite sport of motor racing. He had four cars and was a well known driver and popular member of the Malayan Singapore Vintage Car Register (MSVCR). Brother Freddie first managed Dovenby Estate in Sungei Siput and after Malayan Independence (Merdeka) took over the Gopeng Estate in Batu Gajah. Bill passed away in the early 1980s, while still living at Changkat Kinding and his widow Audrey sold the house to Dato’ K K Lim the present (2010) owner.
Always in private ownership the house is grander than most estate bungalows with fine timberwork including a paneled hall and staircase and a hidden cloakroom. One interesting modification during the Malayan Emergency was the installation of a lockable door on the stairs and gun ports in the enclosed banisters as defence against the communists.
To see an advertisement for Changkat Kinding Tea, click here.
To read about sugar production in Malaya, click here.
To read about the history of St Andrew's Church, Ipoh, click here.
To read about Batu Gajah Hospital, click here.
To see a picture from the MSVCR featuring Bill Ferguson, click here.