Letters of Rev. Edward Bannerman Burnett Ramsay (1793-1872)

The collection is composed of: a letter to the Rev. W. Goold about a national monument to Dr. Chalmers, 1869; a letter from Ainslie Place, Edinburgh, to Miss Dempster offering condolences on the recent decease of 'your dear Scota'; and, a letter acknowledging receipt of an anecdote on 'sleeping in church'.

Edward Bannerman Burnett Ramsay was born in Aberdeen on 31 January 1793. He was educated at the village school in Halsey, northern England, and then at the Cathedral grammar school in Durham, and then he studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1816. In the same year, Ramsay was ordained as Curate of Rodden, near Frome, in Somerset, and then in 1817 he was Curate at Buckland Denham. 1824 saw his return to Scotland, to Edinburgh, as Curate at St. George's, York Place. He then served at St. Paul's, Carrubber's Close, and then from 1827 as assistant to Bishop Sandford at St. John's Church. In 1841 he was appointed as Dean of Edinburgh. Rev. Edward Bannerman Burnett Ramsay died in Edinburgh on 27 December 1872.

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

Dempster and Scota letters among miscellaneous letters purchased from E. Hall, February 1976, Accession no. E76.8.

The biographical/administrative history was compiled using the following material: (1) Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of national biography. Vol. 16. Pocock-Robins. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1909.

Compiled by Graeme D Eddie, Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections Division.

Important finding aids generally are: the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives, consisting of typed slips in sheaf binders and to which additions were made until 1987; and the Index to Accessions Since 1987.

Check the local Indexes for details of any additions.

The local Indexes show reference to another item of Ramsay related material (check the Indexes for more details): letters (7) of Ramsay to D. Laing, 1859-1870, at La.IV.17.

In addition, the UK National Register of Archives (NRA), updated by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, notes several locations of Ramsay related material.