Ferguson Gang, The: The Society Gangsters Who Saved Rural England

- Blurb -

The Ferguson Gang was a mysterious and eccentric group of women in the 1930s who combined anarchic stunts and fine dining with saving the English countryside. Disturbed by the growing destruction of our landscape and historic buildings, the Ferguson Gang started to raise money for the National Trust, which a masked member would deliver in bizarre ways - Victorian coins sewn into a goose's carcass, 100 pound notes wrapped around cigars and cheques stuffed into miniature bottles. In between stunts they travelled the country finding new places under threat, fuelled by hampers from Fortnums. Their escapades were followed closely in the national press. When one of the gang broadcast a radio appeal on behalf of the National Trust, they netted 600 new members and a huge sum of money. The Gang helped to save many properties and tracts of the Cornish coast, and supported appeals to buy land in the Lake District, Devon and Wiltshire. The members operated with masks and pseudonyms (including 'Bill Stickers', 'Red Biddy', 'Erb the Smasher' and 'The Artichoke'). They maintained their anonymity until death, but this fascinating biography will unmask them all for the first time.