Greer a Justice of the Peace and businessman had a keen eye for innovation and would invest in a number of different ideas, but it would be the revolutionary ideas for the modernisation of agriculture in partnership with Harry Ferguson he is best known.
From 1916-1937 Greer put up much of the development costs of the Ferguson System which in court records was stated to be over £156,000 Pounds. Greer actually owned the right to the Ferguson brand name. When Harry Ferguson wanted to start production of his Ferguson TE20 tractor in 1946 manufactured for Harry Ferguson Motors Ltd., by the Standard Motor Company in England, permission from Greer’s estate had to be sought.
Thomas MacGregor Greer, the only son of Thomas Greer, M.P. of Grove House, Regents Park, London and Sea Park, Carrickfergus was born on the 16th April, 1869 in Sea Park, Antrim, Ireland, United Kingdom.
Educated at Eton College, Windsor and Cambridge University. In 1898 he inherited the lease of Tullylagan Manor, outside Cookstown, County Tyrone moving there to live shortly afterwards.
In the parish records he stated his occupation was “Gentleman.” Greer had a wide range of interests, from agriculture, gardening, photography, wood carving, tractors and the motorcar. He was a philanthropist donating money to many different worthy causes, with a special interest in Desertcreat Parish Church, his local Orange Lodge and Tullylagan Pipe Band that he helped establish in 1923, presenting them with kilts in MacGregor tartan.
The ancient Church at Desertcreat in the 1930's was renovated by a new Oak Reredos, Pulpit, Communion table and rails, all of which he hand carved. He was Church Warden for 25 years.
Greer owned one of the first motor cars in County Tyrone and became the first person to drive a car along the famous wide main street of Cookstown. The car a De Dion Bouton did not perform as expected, so he purchased a Vauxhall. Vauxhall’s had a reputation for fast, well built cars, but again the car did not meet Greer’s exacting standards of performance.
After several attempts to fix the car, a young mechanic called Harry Ferguson with a growing reputation to get the best from the often temperamental early internal combustion engines and who had patented improvements to carburettors in 1913 was called to Tullylagan Manor. His success impressed Greer so much that Ferguson was asked to service all cars at Tullylagan from then on, often staying at the Manor, the two becoming friends and business partners.
Greer was a committed Unionist, and founding member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (U.V.F.) created in January, 1913 by the Ulster Unionist Council to resist home rule in Ireland. He played an important part in the import of guns as part of the operation to arm the U.V.F., in April, 1914. Harry Ferguson would also be involved with the U.V.F. at that time by providing cars and lorries to transport the guns out across the country from Larne.
In 1916 Harry Ferguson began developing his first plough directly attached to a tractor, the Ferguson Belfast Plough that commenced production in 1917 at Belfast. Much of the testing in the development of the plough was done at Tullylagan Manor.
The world’s first public showing of the plough was at Tullylagan.As improvements continued over the years as the plough went from a single point hitch to a two or duplex hitch in 1919 and the invention of the modern tractor in 1925 by the Ferguson Master Patent with quickly interchangeable different implements together with automatic depth control, Greer was their giving support by his connections, testing on his lands and paying the bills.
The building of the world’s first Ferguson System tractor with integrated converging three point hydraulic linkage from 1931-1933 in Belfast, the Ferguson Belfast Black Tractor was financed by Greer. When completed it was taken to Tullylagan for testing. However it did not perform as expected and over the next two years it was perfected in the quiet fields of County Tyrone at Tullylagan with the additional considerable expense to Greer.
After it was perfected in 1935, an improved version would finally commence production in 1936 as the Ferguson-Brown Type A, built by David Brown Huddersfield for Harry Ferguson Ltd. Once again Greer being one of the principal financers and directors of the Ferguson Company.
The first example serial number 1, a two furrow plough, and a general cultivator each with serial number 1 arrived in Northern Ireland on the 21st April, 1936. They were used throughout the year for demonstration and show purposes and officially sold to Greer on 12th January, 1937. It was always understood Greer would get the first, to ensure his place in history and County Tyrone being the home of the first production Ferguson System tractor and plough.
Production of the Ferguson-Brown Type A would never achieve the mass production Ferguson and Greer wanted and in the autumn of 1938 when sales had reached just over 700, Harry Ferguson would make the Gentleman’s Agreement with Henry Ford in the U.S.A. The result was the world’s first mass produced Ferguson System tractor the little grey Ford-Ferguson.
The Ford-Ferguson was such a revolutionary tractor that even today every tractor is still based on it. The first two Ford-Ferguson’s arriving in Northern Ireland in September, 1939, serial number 917 being used for research and later the back end of which was sectioned by William Sands, Ferguson’s chief engineer and made into the Ferguson System Demonstrator used by Ferguson on the 10th January, 1940 at Stormont. It was later presented to Greer by Ferguson to show the immense gratitude owed for Greer’s constant belief in him, something Ferguson knew he could never truly repay.
Thomas MacGregor Greer would pass away at Tullylagan Manor on the June 9, 1941, aged 72, having lived to see the Ferguson System become a great worldwide success, fighting hunger and poverty. By that time over 50,000 Ford-Ferguson tractors had been built and knowing how important a part he played in that success.
At his own request his coffin placed on a hay cart, covered with red carpet and pulled by an Austin car sent from Harry Ferguson Motors in Belfast was used for his funeral. A service was held in Desertcreat Parish Church and Thomas MacGregor Greer was buried in the adjoining graveyard. Harry Ferguson was unable to attend the funeral as he was in the U.S.A., not returning to Northern Ireland until July, 1945.