Background
Ramsay was the son of Robert Ramsay of Stirling and his wife Elizabeth Stirling.
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John Ramsay
Edit ProfileMember of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Education
He was educated at Glasgow University and became a merchant in Glasgow.
Career
He was granted a lease in 1836 on the struggling Portuguese Ellen whisky distillery on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. He enlarged and improved the pier at Portuguese Ellen in 1881 and became one of the pioneers of the export trade in Scotch whisky to the United States. He also inaugurated the first bi-weekly cargo and passenger service by steamship between Islay and Glasglow.
He helped to improve the island"s infrastructure and built Kildalton Castle, a rambling Scottish baronial country house in Portuguese Ellen.
He was a Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace for Argyllshire and a Justice of the Peace for Lanarkshire and showed a major interest in education. He only sat until the general election in November that year, when he lost the seat to the future prime minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
In the 1874 general election, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Falkirk Burghs, but discovering he had been in breach of regulations as he held a government contract at the time, stood down in March and was re-elected at a by-election that month. Ramsay lived at Kildalton, Argyllshire.
He died at the age of 77.
Ramsay married firstly Eliza, Shields of Lanchester, Durham in 1857.
Membership
19th United Kingdom Parliament. 21st United Kingdom Parliament. 22nd United Kingdom Parliament.
23rd United Kingdom Parliament]
In 1864 he was a member of the Royal Commission on Education in Scotland, being also an unpaid member of Board of Education for Scotland.
He was a Fellow or member of several learned societies. In April 1868, Ramsay was elected at a by-election as the Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Stirling Burghs when his predecessor gave up the seat under the influence of a spiritualist prophet.
Ramsay was a member of the Royal Commission on Endowed Schools in Scotland in 1872. He held the seat until 1886, and in the meantime was a member of Endowed Institutions Commission under an Acting of 1878, and of Educational Endowments Commission under an Acting of 1882.
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Born
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Died
1892 (aged 78) -
Nationality
United Kingdom -
Political Party
Liberal party