FERGUSON, ROBERT (c. 1637-1714), British conspirator and pamphleteer, called the "Plotter," was a son of William Ferguson (d. 1699) of Badifurrow, Aberdeenshire. He became vicar of Godmersham, Kent, from which living he was expelled by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. In 168o he wrote "A letter to a Person of Honour concerning the `Black Box,' " in which he sup ported the claim of the duke of Monmouth to the crown against that of the duke of York; he also claimed the authorship of the pamphlet "No Protestant Plot" (1681), parts of which are usually ascribed to Shaftesbury. Ferguson was deeply implicated in the Rye House plot, and fled to Holland with Shaftesbury in 1682, returning to England early in 1683. For his share in another plot against Charles II. he was outlawed. Ferguson took a leading part in organizing Monmouth's rising of 1685. He drew up the manifesto against James II., escaping to Holland after the battle of Sedgemoor. He landed in England with William of Orange in 1688, and received a sinecure appointment in the Excise. Fergu son was soon in correspondence with the exiled Jacobites. He shared in all the plots against the life of William, but -although he was several times arrested on suspicion, he was never brought to trial. He died in great poverty in 1714, leaving behind him a great and deserved reputation for treachery. It has been sug gested that Ferguson was a spy, and that his frequent escapes from justice were due to official connivance.
See James Ferguson, Robert Ferguson, the Plotter (Edinburgh, 1887), which gives a favourable account of Ferguson.