Tony Ferguson

Tony says, “Unlike many old gits, I think I was born an old git.

My granny was never convinced about schooling. She prevented me going to the local primary school until I was six. I made my debut in wider society as the oldest kid in the class. That feeling of being “older” has stuck to me ever since.

Leaving school to pursue my career in a tarmac gang, I quickly appreciated what granny had missed and enrolled in university a year later, again putting myself at the wrinkly end of the age spectrum in the 1975 intake at Hull University. Twenty-one is so much older than nineteen.

The older I have got, the more rebellious I have become towards age. At 62, Accenture, a renowned management consultancy with a reputation for being rammed with bright young dynamos headhunted me. Accenture employed over 400,000 people then, one of whom was my son, Ronan.

Ever the wag, he identified how common it was in Accenture for parent/ child combinations…but surely none where the child had joined before the parent! Age can distinguish or demean.”

Somme Story: Tyrone’s Most Wanted Man: Andy Symington

From Trenches to Turmoil: The Unbelievable True Story of Andy Symington

Imagine a man who fought in three different armies across three brutal conflicts in just seven years. This is Andy Symington. From the Battle of the Somme with the British, to fighting against them with the IRA (one of fewer than sixty WWI Irish volunteers to make that transition), then joining the Free State army to fight against the IRA in the Civil War – Symington’s tale is incredible.

He became Tyrone’s Most Wanted Man in 1922. His story unfolds in the “Andy Symington: Tyrone’s Most Wanted Man” trilogy. The first book, “Somme Story,” exposes a century-old conspiracy of mutiny, officer murder, and cover-ups in the trenches, revealing shocking military leadership incompetence. Beyond the battles, it explores the poignant human cost of war, from alcoholism and PTSD to a remarkable twist of fate over a century later… Prepare to be captivated by a fighter who defied loyalties and lived a life stranger than fiction.

Andy Symington: Tyrone’s Most Wanted Man: Volume 1: The Somme

Andy Symington volunteered to join the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1916. Over the next seven years, he would participate in the Battle of the Somme, the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, a trilogy of military service experienced by fewer than sixty men, historians have estimated. His fighting career was a convulsion of contradictions: having been honourably discharged from the British army with a Silver War badge due to wounds and shellshock, he returned to Ireland and fought against the British (Black & Tans and Auxiliaries) for the nascent IRA, becoming the most wanted man in Tyrone in 1921; in 1922 he switched sides again, became a captain in the Free State army and fought against the IRA in the Civil War.

Meticulously researched, the book examines his life and times, casting light on some colourful characters like Geoffrey-Caiger Watson (an enigmatic RAF officer who survived a plane crash that killed his pilot on the penultimate day of the War); Woodbine Willie (a chaplain who crawled around No Man’s land dispensing cigarettes and spiritual support to the wounded and dying); Tom Kettle, a gifted Irish academic and politician who not only lost his life but his place in history; and Mrs Mary Barbour who masterminded the Glasgow Rent Strike from her scullery (forcing Lloyd George to introduce emergency legislation in her favour).

This book uncovers a previously suppressed story of mutiny and officer murder in the trenches and reveals how the press covered it up. It also exposes a cover up in the War Diaries, as Army High Command sought to distance itself from an ill-conceived attack which cost the lives of 385 men, many of them killed by their own side.

The work is in three volumes, collectively dedicated to the memory of Andy and focusses on the years 1916-23, the most remarkable years of this fighter’s life. This first volume covers his time as a British soldier and examines the bloodiest battle in the Great War: the Somme. There is a strong human-interest undercurrent, from his early days in a family of ten in Fermanagh to the post war impact of alcoholism and shellshock (today known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD) on a tortured family life.

The second volume, when released, will examine Andy’s role in the War of Independence against Britain. This period of his life was spent “on the run”, harboured by close friends like the McLoughlins and saw him become the most wanted man in Tyrone by the authorities. Volume three will cover his career as a Captain in the Nationalist army during the darkest days of the Irish Civil War.

A century after the Somme, there emerged a divine twist when Andy’s great grandson married the granddaughter of his second lieutenant and fellow trench warrior, a fact only uncovered during the research for this book. Ronan Ferguson and Stephanie Caiger-Watson owe their gift of life to the outrageous good fortune of Private Andy Symington and Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Caiger-Watson.

I do not know the word for something bigger than a miracle. For now, I will call it a Findlay. Ronan and Stephanie’s first born is simply that- a miracle of Life. His existence uniquely depended on the survival of both Andy and Geoffrey; two men that had the odds of reaching fatherhood very much stacked against them.

A story that began about my grandfather, ends with me becoming a grandfather.
I dedicate the endeavour to Findlay Rafferty Ferguson.

You can find out more about Tony and his books via:

Tony will be joining us at the second in-person festival on 4th Oct 2026, when we’ll be talking about the nuts and bolts of publishing.