Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie


? - c.1342

Soldier. Elder son of Sir William Ramsay, who fought at Bannockburn (1314), he was one of the Regent's commanders at Borough Muir, where England's ally, the Flemish Army, was defeated. He was present at the capture of Leuchars Castle (1335) and came to the assistance of Black Agnes, the Countess of Dunbar, relieving the siege of her castle at Dunbar in 1338. He recaptured Roxburgh Castle from the English in 1342, something Sir William Douglas had tried unsuccessfully to do. When Sir Alexander was rewarded by being made Constable of Roxburgh and Sheriff of Teviotdale, Douglas was outraged and captured Ramsay while praying at Hawick and imprisoned him in the dungeon of Hermitage Castle. Without food or water, he died, although it is said he survived for seventeen days by eating the grain that fell through from the castle granary above the dungeon.


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