Clan Ramsay: Dalhousie and the Mearns

Overview

Clan Ramsay is an old eastern family, its senior line the Earls of Dalhousie. Their motto is “Ora et Labora” — “Pray and work.” The Ramsays gave Scotland and the Empire soldiers and statesmen, including Governors-General of India and Canada.

How the clan came about

The Ramsays were Anglo-Norman, from the village of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire. Symon de Ramsay came north with David I around 1124, received lands in Midlothian, and — the earliest firm anchor — witnessed a charter to Holyrood Abbey in 1140. He was ancestor of the Ramsays of Dalhousie; the family next appears firmly with William de Ramsay on the 1296 Ragman Rolls, before declaring for Bruce.

Rise & fall

The clan’s marquee figure is Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie (c.1290–1342), one of the heroes of the Wars of Independence — who relieved Black Agnes in the siege of Dunbar and recaptured Roxburgh Castle by a dawn escalade. His end was grim: seized by a jealous fellow Scot, William Douglas of Liddesdale, he was starved to death in the dungeon of Hermitage Castle. The family later gained the Earldom of Dalhousie (1633); the chief today, the 17th Earl, is seated at Brechin Castle in Angus.

Battles — won and lost

The most notable actions the clan fought, and how they ended:

• Culblean (1335) — vs an English/Strathbogie force — WON
• Boroughmuir (1335) — vs an English-allied force — WON
• Relief of Dunbar (1338) — vs the English (supplying Black Agnes) — WON
• Recapture of Roxburgh (1342) — vs the English — WON
• Hermitage Castle (1342) — vs — Sir Alexander seized by a fellow Scot and starved to death — LOST

The Ramsays were on the 1296 Ragman Rolls, fought for Robert the Bruce, and a Ramsay signed the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath.

Where they lived & ruled

The heartland was Midlothian, around the ancient seat of Dalhousie, with branches in Angus, Banff and the Borders, and the chief today at Brechin.

Orange markers = the clan’s chief castles, seats and territories. Click a marker for its name; where we have a page, it links through.

Clan & whisky

It was Sir Alexander Ramsay of Fasque who, in 1824, founded the distillery of Fettercairn on his Mearns estate — one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, and a genuine Ramsay foundation.