Blazon of arms:
Shield: Argent an Eagle displayed Sable.
SOURCES, NOTES & CREDITS: The illustration for background and the text are adapted from the Wikipedia article. Blazon source: “An Ordinary of Arms”, Vol I, Paul, Ed of 1903, page 121, 1798 ( 1st matriculation of 1672-7 ).
The family descends from Sir George Ramsay, who represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1617. He received a charter of the barony of Dalhousie and also of the barony of Melrose on the resignation of John Ramsay, 1st Earl of Holderness. In 1618 he was raised to the Peerage of Scotland as Lord Ramsay of Melrose. However, as he did not like the title, he obtained a letter from James VI in 1619 to change it to Lord Ramsay of Dalhousie (with the precedence of 1618). He died before 1629.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Lord, William Ramsay, 1st Earl of Dalhousie He sat as a member of the Scottish Parliament for Montrose in 1617 and 1621 and served as Sheriff Principal of Edinburghshire. In 1633 he was created Lord Ramsay of Keringtoun and Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, in the Peerage of Scotland. He died in 1672.
The current 17th Earl is James Hubert Ramsay born in 1948. His heir apparent is his son, Simon David Ramsay, Lord Ramsay born in 1981 and his heir apparent is his son, the Hon. William Fox Ramsay born in 1917.
The artwork is an interpretation of John Hamilton Gaylor.
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