Keith Ramsay established a shipping agency in Dunedin and was the youngest ever Mayor of Dunedin. He was born in Alyth, Perthshire, Scotland in 1844 and came to Otago on the Jura in 1862. His portrait hangs here with other Jura passengers but they are from the ship’s earlier voyage to Otago in 1858. Keith earns his spot in the sequence here because his wife, Janet Douglas, came on that 1858 voyage. She was just seven at the time and can be seen in the portrait to the left with her mother and older sister. That portrait is likely from about the time of their first arrival in the colony and offers a remarkable point of comparison between the seven-year-old girl and her later adult portrait.
Janet married Keith Ramsay in 1871. The couple was to have three sons and six daughters together. Three years after their marriage 30-year-old Keith was elected Mayor of Dunedin. This makes him still the youngest incumbent of that office in the city’s history. He was also a prominent businessman with multiple interests apart from the shipping agency that bore his name. He was one of Dunedin’s merchant elite at a time when the city led the country in commerce and as an export/import centre. The Ramsays lived a very comfortable lifestyle and Janet was able to devote herself to community service.
Keith died in Dunedin in 1906, aged 62. Janet died in 1930, aged 78.
Keith and Janet Ramsay (née Douglas)