Early years. Ramsay was born at 2 Clifton Street in Glasgow on 2 October 1852, the son of civil engineer and surveyor, William C. Ramsay, and his wife, Catherine Robertson. The family lived at 2 Clifton Street in the city centre, a three-storey and basement Georgian townhouse. The family moved to 1 Oakvale Place in the Hillhead district in his youth. He was a nephew of the …

Etymology. Sir derives from the honorific title sire; sire developed alongside the word seigneur, also used to refer to a feudal lord.Both derived from the Vulgar Latin senior, sire comes from the nominative case declension senior and seigneur, the accusative case declension seniōrem.. The form 'Sir' is first documented in English in 1297, as the title of honour of a knight, and latterly a ...