Ramsay was born at Atkinson's Hotel, Torquay, Devon, the eldest of five sons of John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie, and Lady Ida Louisa Bennet, daughter of Charles Bennet, 6th Earl of Tankerville.

Sir Alexander Ramsay (1881–1972), a senior royal navy officer who married Princess Patricia of Connaught.

[2] Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards was posted to South Africa as reinforcements in April 1900.

[3] The war ended with the Peace of Vereeniging in June 1902, and Lord Dalhousie left Port Natal with other men of the 2nd battalion Scots Guards on the SS Michigan in late September 1902, arriving at Southampton in late October, when the battalion was posted to Aldershot.

[5] Lord Dalhousie married on 14 July 1903 Lady Mary Heathcote-Drummond (daughter of Gilbert Henry Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster).