His father David Ramsay was the clock-maker to James I and Charles I, and was of Scottish descent.

William Ramsay spelt his name Ramesey, because he thought his ancestors came from Egypt.

[1] After passing through several schools in and about London, Ramsay was to have gone to Oxford, but was prevented by the civil war.

Accordingly he went to St. Andrews, where his studies were broken by the war; he then went to Edinburgh, was driven out by the plague, and returned to London in April 1645.

[1] Ramsay was physician-in-ordinary to Charles II, and was living at Plymouth, when he was admitted M.D.