Dundee-born engineering pioneer Ann Ferguson

Groundbreaking engineer and horsewoman Patricia Ann Ferguson has died aged 86. Known as Ann, she was the first woman to be accepted for a civil engineering degree at St Andrews University.

She then became the only woman at the Royal Military Academy of Science, where she completed her degree.

Ann’s admission to the college at Shrivenham, Wiltshire, had to be cleared by the then defence secretary, Denis Healey.

She later went on to have a successful business career in civil engineering before serving as chairwoman of Fife Health Board.

Ann Ferguson, nee Todd, was born in Dundee, where her father was a director of the Cox Brothers jute company.

She began her education at Dundee High School but moved to Oldmeldrum when her parents took over Meldrum House Hotel.

It was there that she pursued her love of equestrian sport. During the 1950s and 1960s Ann was a competitive showjumper who moved into dressage in the 1970s.

Ann completed her education at St Margaret’s School for Girls in Aberdeen.

Her parents then bought Annfield House Hotel at Kingskettle in Fife where again, Ann made a name for herself in equestrian circles.

She was accepted to study civil engineering at St Andrews in 1966 and, halfway through her course, married fellow engineer Euan Ferguson.

The couple moved to England and when Ann graduated from the Royal Military College of Sciences, she was presented with her certificate by the Duke of Edinburgh.

On moving back to Scotland in 1973, she became the chief civil engineer at Redpath Dorman Long in Methil, one of only four UK-based oil platform manufacturers.

In the late 1970s she started a civil engineering contractors business called Hatrick Bruce, along with her late husband.

It was based in Milnathort and she ran it until 2006 when the business was taken over.

From 1983 until 1993, Ann was a member of Fife Health Board and its chairwoman from 1987 to 1993.

She was instrumental in overseeing the construction of Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, as well as steering the board through the enormous changes to NHS practices at that time.

Her other public appointments were on the board of Glenrothes Development Corporation and to the board of management of the then Fife College of Technology.

She became a Justice of the Peace in 1989, was an ambassador for Poppy Scotland and an active supporter of Help for Heroes.

TRAILBLAZER: Ann Ferguson has died aged 86.