RAMSAY, James Bishop of Dunblane then Bishop of Ross, Right Reverend Mr ^{2 3 4 5 6}

   Another name for James was RAMSEY, James.²

   User ID: I129.

  General Notes:

"1653. James Ramsay, A.M., son of Principal R. of the Univ. of Glasgow, 'a very able and sufficient youth as we have of his age' attained his degree at the Univ. of Glasgow in 1647, and was ord. and adm. (by the Presb. with a Committee from the Gen. Assembly) 19th Feb. 1653. He was charged by the English 'not to preach in that church, and the people not to hear him under high paynes,' and by Judge Moysley 'discharged to preach in the neighbour churches,' yet the parishioners adhered to him with very few exceptions: he was trans. to Linlithgow in 1655."

from Electric Scotland (Kirkintilloch)




"The condition of Culross is reported to the presbytery, and then to the synod and bishop. The Bishop of Dunblane, to whose superintendence Culross belonged, was now James Ramsay, who had succeeded Leighton in that office a few years before. He had originally been minister of Kirkintilloch, and had been translated from thence to Linlithgow, of which he was minister when the notorious ceremony was performed of burning the Solemn League and Covenant - an act in which Linlithgow stood alone among Scottish burghs. From Linlithgow, Ramsay passed in 1670 to be parson of Hamilton and Dean of Glasgow, and in 1673 he was made Bishop of Dunblane. He is said to have advocated both political and ecclesiastical reform, and was the friend both of Burnet and Leighton, the latter of whom he aided strenuously in a vain endeavour to effect a union between the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians. By the active part which he took in drawing up the Glasgow remonstrance against the Act of Supremacy, and by advocating the calling of a national synod, he incurred the displeasure of the Court party....a Royal letter was procured through the influence of Sharp, ordering the translation of the Bishop of Dunblane to the see of the Isles. Ramsay proceeded to London to obtain a reversal of this sentence; and Sharp having also repaired thither, a fierce altercation ensued between the two dignitaries. Ramsay's representations seem, however, so far to have prevailed, that in 1676 he was reponed in his bishopric of Dunblane [....]
The next entry is a peculiar one, and records the appointment of James Ramsay, Bishop of Dunblane, to the incumbency of Culross - a living within his own diocese."

from Electric Scotland (Culross) ^{1 7 8}

  Noted events in his life were:

• Appointed: Minister, 19 February 1653, Kirkintilloch parish, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. ⁹

• Appointed: Minister, 1655, Linlithgow parish, West Lothian, Scotland. ⁹

• Appointed: Parson, 1664, Hamilton parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland. ⁹

• Appointed: Bishop, 1673, Dunblane, Stirlingshire, Scotland. ⁹

• Appointed: Bishop, 1684, Ross, Scotland. ⁹

James married Marie GARTSHORE, daughter of John GARTSHORE of that Ilk and Jean MUIRHEAD.¹ (Marie GARTSHORE was born about 1639.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Mary (Gartshore) who married Rev. James Ramsay"

from email (21 November 2025)




(at Kirkintilloch in 1653)

"JAMES RAMSAY, M.A. ; ord. (by the 1653 Presb. with a committee of General Assembly) 19th Feb. 1653; was ordered by the English 'not to preach in that church, and the people not to hear him under high paynes'; and by Judge Moysley 'discharged to preach in the neighbour churches'; but the parishioners adhered to him with few exceptions. He was trans, to Linlithgow 14th Sept. 1655."

from Fasti Ecclesiae (vol 3)


(At Linlithgow in 1655)

"JAMES RAMSAY, M.A.; of the Resolutionist or Moderate Presb.; trans. from Kirkintilloch; adm. (on a call by the Presb. with a Committee of Synod) 14th Sept. 1655. On a petition of the parishioners to the Synod, 8th Nov. 1656, bearing that he is 'ane able, pious, and peaceable man and doth meet with many obstructions in the exercise of his minis try, to the prejudice of the Lord's work and his discouragement, and desiring he may be encouraged in his calling'; the Moderator, in their name, found and declared him to be lawfully called and admitted, 'being farther confirmed in their judgment of his abilities, by his sermon preached this day before them'; Coll. 1662 ; trans, to Hamilton 1664; Bishop of Dunblane 1673; Bishop of Ross 23rd May 1684 (q.v.).[Reg. Collat.; Kirkton's and Wodrow's Hists., i.; Baillie's Lett., iii.; Chambers's Ann., ii.; Acts Parl., vii.; Keith's Catalogue.]"

from Fasti Ecclesiae (vol 1) (at Hamilton in 1664)


"JAMES RAMSAY, M.A.; trans, from Linlithgow in 1664 ; became Bishop of Dunblane (q.v.) in 1673."

from Fasti Ecclesiae (vol 3)


"BISHOPS

DUNBLANE (1673)

JAMES RAMSAY, promoted from parish of Hamilton 22nd July, app. 18th Aug., and consecrated 4th Sept. 1673; promoted to See of the Isles 16th July 1674, but re-called by Privy Council 27th April 1675 ; trans, to See of Ross 14th April 1684."


(at Culross in 1680)

"JAMES RAMSAY, Bishop of Dunblane, undertook the charge of the whole parish."

from Fasti Ecclesiae (vol 5)


"BISHOPS

ROSS (1684)

JAMES RAMSAY, born about 1624, son of Robert R., min. of the High Kirk, Glasgow, and Principal of that Univ. ; educated at Univ. of Glasgow M.A. (1647); ord. to Kirkintilloch 19th Feb. 1653 ; trans, to Linlithgow 14th Sept, 1655 ; trans, to Hamilton and Deanery of Glasgow in 1664 ; Rector of Univ. of Glasgow, 1665-7; headed a list of subscribers to the Oath of Allegiance to Episcopacy 6th Jan. 1666 ; was instrumental in protecting the Duke of Hamilton from injury at the skirmish at Pentland 28th Nov. 1666 ; promoted to Bishopric of Dunblane 22nd July 1673 ; app. to See of the Isles after 16th July 1674, but appointment recalled by the Privy Council, Sept. 1675, consequent upon an angry quarrel between R. and Archbishop Sharp ; trans, to this See 23rd May, and installed 10th Aug. 1684 ; opposed repeal of statutes against Roman Catholics in 1686, and signed the Bishops' letter of allegiance to James VII. ; deprived at the Revolution ; died in great poverty at Edinburgh, 22nd Oct. 1696, and was buried in Canongate Churchyard. He marr. Mary Gartshore, and had issue - Robert, min. of Prestonpans ; Patrick James, student at Glasgow Univ. in 1675; David ; Andrew ; Captain John, denounced by the Privy Council as a Jacobite, 8th Nov. 1692; Alexander ; George ; Susanna ; Anna ; Margaret. Publication - Moses returned from, Midian, or God's Kindness to a Banished King [sermon preached at Linlithgow in 1660] - Dic. Nat. Biog.; Keith's Scottish Bishops, 183, 204 ; Baillie's Letts., 313, 487 ; Law's Memorialls, 20 Hist. MSS. Com., 2nd Report, p. 205; ] P. C. Reg., 3rd ser., xii., 482 ; G. R. Sas., 2nd ser., vi. 269, viii. 22.]"

from Fasti Ecclesiae (vol 4) ^{1 10 11 12 13}