[1] After entering in business in Dundee, left for New Zealand, sailing to Port Chalmers on the Jura in 1862.

Ramsay became a ship owner, with the coasting steamers Invercargill and Rimu to his name, and was involved in a variety of Dunedin businesses.

He was elected to the council in 1874, and was the Chairman of both the Otago Harbour Board and the Chamber of Commerce, and a director of the National Insurance Company.

[2] Ramsay died in Dunedin on 3 May 1906, leaving a widow, three sons and six daughters.

[1][3] His fifth daughter, Nora, married the barrister Charles White.