James Ferguson was a farmer's son, and was a shepherd in his youth. He loved nature, had a talent for drawing and was generally keen to learn, though for a long time he was unable to attend school. For many years he earned his livelihood through portrait painting and later became a qualified doctor. He loved mathematics, mechanics, geography and astronomy, and is still highly regarded in these subjects today. With the aid of a Royal scholarship and as a member of the Royal Society of London and a private tutor, he spent the rest of his life in London. His abilities are evident from many geographical and cartographical works, among them globes.
Ferguson was also famous for his reissues of Senex's globes, all of whose plates, moulds and tools he acquired at auction in 1755 from Senex's widow, bar the set of plates purchased by Adams, which he was to use for his first (out of date) globe issue. Ferguson is largely remembered for his popularization of science, particularly the new Newtonian astronomy. He expected all those atending his lectures to be the possessors of a common globe, such as this one. He was not, however, a good businessman and was compelled to give up globe-making in 1757, when his plates were obtained by travelling lecturer and instrument-maker Benjamin Martin (1704-1782). James Mynde, who engraved the plates for this globe, died in 1760.