William Ramsay Ramsay of Barnton and Sauchie (29 May 1809 – 15 March 1850) was a British Conservative Party and Tory politician.

Life

He was born in Barnton House west of Edinburgh, on 29 May 1809, the eldest son of George Ramsay and his wife Jean Hamilton, daughter of John Hamilton Baron Belhaven. Barnton House (previously known as Cramond Regis) was commissioned by his father in 1784 to replace an earlier house, and was designed by Robert Adam. It was extended by architect David Hamilton in 1810. He was privately tutored then studied at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

graduating in 1828, and later that year married Mary Sandilands, daughter of

James Sandilands, 10th Lord Torpichen James is a common English language surname and given name: * James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...

—with whom he had 1 son, Charles William Ramsay (1844–1865). He inherited the estates of his father when "still an infant", an event which saw him conferred the distinction of "the richest commoner in Scotland". Ramsay was elected Tory MP for Stirlingshire at the

1831 general election {{Short description, None The following elections occurred in the year 1831. North America United States * United States Senate election in New York, 1831 South America * 1831 Chilean presidential election Europe * 1831 French legislative electi ...

, when invited to do so by Thomas Stirling, and campaigned on a platform of a determination to "uphold unimpaired the institutions of the country". He said, however, he was "free and unfettered from any pledges whatever" but claimed to be "friendly to a fair, liberal safe and equitably reform" but "decidedly opposed" to "altogether too sweeping and irrevocable reforms". In the House of Commons, he voted against the second and third readings of the English reform bill and voted to reject the second reading of the Scottish version of the bill. He stood down at the next election a year later. He was later, in 1841, elected Conservative MP for

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

, but resigned four years later by accepting the office of

Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds Appointment to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is a procedural device to allow Members of Parliament to resignation from the British House of Commons, resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. S ...

. He died in Barnton House on 15 March 1850 and is buried nearby in Cramond Kirkyard. He was succeeded by his only son, Charles William Ramsay, aged only six. Charles died unmarried and childless 15 years later.https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/ramsay-william-1809-1850 Barnton House was demolished around 1960 but the Gothic style gatepiers of 1810 still exist on Whitehouse Road.

References

External links

* Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912) Tory MPs (pre-1834) UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1841–1847 1809 births 1850 deaths {{Conservative-UK-MP-1800s-stub