John Fergus

Dr. John Fergus, Irish physician and man of letters, c.1700 – c.1761.

A descendant of the Ó Fearghuis medical family of Connacht, Doctor Fergus a native of County Mayo but moved to Dublin city early in his adult life.

He was a scribe, and book collector, as well as a member of the Ó Neachtáin literary circle in early 18th century Dublin. He amassed a huge library of Irish manuscripts, which included the Liber Flavus Fergusiorum, a medical text created by his ancestors in the 14th century.

Sources

• John Fergus MD: Eighteenth-century Doctor, Book Collector and Irish Scholar, by Diarmaid O Cathain, in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland,, pp.139–163, volume 118, 1988.