Dean Edward Bannerman Burnett Ramsay


1793 - 1872

Clergyman. Born in Aberdeen, the son of Alexander Burnett the Sheriff of Kincardineshire. Burnett changed his name when he inherited estates in Yorkshire (England) from his uncle, Sir Alexander Ramsay (1806). Thus, the young Ramsay spent his teenage years in Yorkshire and was educated at Durham and Cambridge University. He joined the Church of England and held the position of Curate in Somerset, before returning to Edinburgh. In 1830, he became the Priest in the Episcopal Church of St. John (on Princes Street), where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1841, he was appointed Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh and became a well-loved figure in the city. He wrote prodigiously on religion, but also published the immensely popular 'Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character' (1858).

Ramsay is remembered by a memorial in West Princes Street Gardens, close to St. John's Church. This took the form of a Celtic Cross, which was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson (1834 - 1921) and unveiled in 1878.


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