Charles Norman Matheson RAMSAY, 1891 - ?
Inventor of Burmese Colour Needles
(LG = London Gazette entries)
Born 14th August 1891 in Keiss, Caithness, Scotland
Father: Rev Charles Rolland Ramsay, 1867-
Mother: Agnes Maud Campbell née Matheson, 1871-
Ewing’s ANNALS: RAMSAY, CHARLES ROLLAND, M.A. Born Arbroath, 1865. Studied at Edinburgh University & Free Church College, Glasgow. Ordained 1890, Keiss, Caithnessshire. Married 1890. Translated 1891 to St. Luke’s, Glasgow. Supplementary Information: FUFC, p.249; FES, Vol.2, p.311: served in Keiss, Caithness; and Glasgow (St. Luke’s).
1901 census (aged 9) – resident in Glasgow Dennistoun, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Prior to enlistment in 1914, a Divinity student in charge of church at Inversnaid
1914 enlisted with 3rd Battalion (The Black Watch) Royal Highlanders
LG 21st August 1914 – 3rd Battalion Royal Highlanders: promoted to Second Lieutenant (on probation)
LG 16th February 1915 – 3rd Battalion Royal Highlanders: rank of Second Lieutenant confirmed
LG 26th May 1915 – 3rd Battalion Special Reserve: promoted from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant, Special Reserve of Officers (18th February 1915)
Hazel Cheney Bolton, 1893 - 1972 visited Ramsay in hospital, Dorking*. They were (or became) openly engaged, but Ramsay persuaded her to an early ‘secret’ marriage ceremony at Dorking Registrar’s office 1st July 1915*. The couple did not live together thereafter. Hazel did not tell her parents, and regarded the early secret registry office wedding as “more or less a joke”. They then married publicly in August 1915 at Aberfoyle Parish Church. They had two children, born 1916 & 1918.
*Would the marriage itself or having a civilian dependent be of some advantage to Ramsay, e.g. financially, or to allow him to complete his degree studies?
** Which hospital is unknown. Assuming military: Anstie Grange (for officers) did not open until Aug 1916; only other in Dorking was Kirkstall (a convalescent home; first WW1 admissions were in Oct 1914; closed Feb 1916 at least temporarily) (source: Red Cross list of WW1 hospitals)
Graduated from University of Glasgow, 1916
LG 22nd Aug 1916 – promoted from Lieutenant to Captain (8th March 1916)
LG 23rd Jan 1917 – temporary appointment, War Office, G.S.O. 3rd Grade & to be secd. (29th December 1916)
Staff appointment at War Office from September 1917; Ramsay and his wife Hazel lived at a furnished flat in Maida Vale; later in 1917 due to her health and air raids on London, she returned to her parents at Aberfoyle.
Sailed to Egypt on staff appointment approx. end of 1917 (ship was torpedoed; Ramsay escaped without injury). Letters to Hazel latterly became short and less affectionate.
LG 25th January 1918 – War Office appointment, G.S.O. 3rd Grade (12th December 1917) LG 13th March 1918 – War Office appointment, G.S.O. 3rd Grade
In September 1918 Ramsay wrote to Hazel that he was going away on special service. In October 1918 Hazel’s father, Mr Francis C. Bolton, heard that Ramsay was in London and wrote to the War Office General under whom Ramsay had served. The letter was passed to Ramsay, who later wrote that he had returned in the hope of getting a post at the War Office and expected to be sent to France in connection with the War Office education scheme; also promising to visit Hazel for Christmas 1918. He failed to do so and did not answer her subsequent letters.
LG 19h February 1919 – “G.S.O. 3rd Grade.— Capt. C. N. M. Ramsay, 3rd R. Highrs., Spec. Res., relinquishes his appointment. 15th Nov. 1918.”
Hazel’s father instructed his London solicitor to make enquiries. Ramsay had been demobilised in April 1919 and was living with a lady (an actress aged about 35 who was known to their charwoman as “Mrs Ramsay”) at 39 Cromwell Road, Kensington, which they vacated around September 1919.
Ramsay or his family engaged a London agent in his defence for the divorce proceedings, but Ramsay did not actually instruct them. He was stated to be unfit to plead or instruct defence due to shell shock, but no medical evidence was provided, and his address and whereabouts at the time of the court proceedings were unknown. Decree of divorce was granted in November 1919 with custody of the children (the younger of whom Ramsay had never seen) to Hazel, and aliment of £100 per year.
Ramsay was found bankrupt on 26th February 1920 (proceedings first filed 9th January), again with his address and whereabouts unknown to the court at the time:
LG 22nd October 1920:-
The following Amended Notice is substituted for that published in the London Gazette of March 2, 1920:-
RAMSAY, Charles Norman Matheson (described in the Receiving Order as Captain C. N. Matheson Ramsay), late 39, Cromwell Road, Kensington, London, but whose present address the Petitioning Creditor is unable to ascertain.
A DOMICILED ENGLISHMAN.
Court— HIGH COURT of Justice in Bankruptcy. No. of Matter— 29 of 1920. Date of Order— Feb. 26, 1920.
Date of Filing Petition— Jan. 9, 1920.
LG 25th January 1921 – relinquished appointment and retains rank of Captain
Military service record shown as ending in 1923 (National Archives WO 339/22806)
By 1926 (probably earlier) – Senior Lecturer at Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, South Africa; now known as Mr N M (Morris) Ramsay
1926 – Became first Head of new Psychology department at Rhodes University College (also continuing until at least 1929 as Senior Lecturer in Psychology)
By March 1929 – Managing Director of Burmese Colour Needle Co. (Proprietary) Ltd., Grahamstown, South Africa
1930 – transferred from Head of Psychology Department to position in Education Department, working under Professor John Adamson
30 April 1930 – shown as arriving in New York from Southampton (New York Passenger Lists)
September 1930 – in England at a press demonstration (for Electrocolor; he had recently developed new, supposedly improved thorn needles involving an electrolytic process, and had trialled them successfully in America)
Patents by Ramsay or naming him as communicator/inventor
(note addresses shown in bold)
Abstract
344,559. Reservoir pads for gramophone records. FAIRWEATHER, D. K., 65, Chancery Lane, London.- (Ramsay, C.N.M.; Ocean Hotel, Ostend, Belgium.) Dec. 18, 1929, Nos. 38753/29 and 27570/30. [Class 19.] A cleaning and lubricating pad, Fig. 2, for gramophone records comprises a container 1 for graphite, having a perforated bottom 3 slightly spaced from a foraminous pad 4 of plush, velvet, or the like. In a modification, Fig. 4, the container 1 is partitioned into two compartments by a diaphragm c having an aperture d valve controlled and operated by a handle and spring rod g. Classifications
G11B3/589 Cleaning record carriers or styli, e.g. removing shavings or dust or electrostatic charges before or after transducing operation
Abstract
353,015. Mounting gramophone
G11B3/00 Recording by mechanical cutting, deforming or pressing, e.g. of grooves or pits; Reproducing by mechanical sensing; Record carriers therefore...
1931 – French patent FR716439A: