George Ramsay
George Ramsay
George Ramsay
● George Ramsay, 1910s (IWM)

born in Scotland

George Strachan Ramsay was born on Tuesday, 18th October, 1892, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.

The 5' 10½ (11st 0lbs) forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Monday, 18th May, 1914, having most recently been with Third Lanark.

Aged 21, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 22nd August, 1914, in a 4-1 win at home to Dundee in the SFL First Division.

George scored his first goal for Thistle on Saturday, 29th August, 1914, in a 2-1 defeat away to Falkirk in the SFL First Division.

He scored the last of his 11 goals on Monday, 24th April, 1916, in a 3-2 defeat at home to Clyde in the Scottish Football League.

He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 30th December, 1916, in a 3-2 win away to Motherwell in the Scottish Football League, having appeared as a Jag on 49 occasions.

His club-list included Queen's Park, Rangers, Ayr United, Third Lanark and Partick Thistle.

George died on Thursday, 8th August, 1918, at Pas-de-Calais, aged 25.

Bio Extra

George was born in Clydebank on 18 October 1892. He attended Allan Glen’s School. He became an apprentice marine engineer. Inside forward George became a Queen’s Park player, and made 49 competitive appearances for the club during the seasons 1910-11 and 1911-12. The 1912-13 season found George at Rangers, and he moved on to Ayr United and Third Lanark before joining Thistle in May 1914. His senior debut came on 22 August 1914 when, as a 21-year-old, he appeared in a 4-1 home win against Dundee in the SFL First Division. All in all George appeared on 49 occasions during the 1914-15; 1915-16 and 1916-17 seasons.

He scored 11 goals, but his most important was in the SFL First Division match at home to Kilmarnock on 12 February 1916. George scored 3 first half goals, and when he scored his third for a first half hat trick, he became the scorer of Thistle’s 1,000th SFL goal – a milestone for the club. He went on to score a fourth goal in the second half.

George left Thistle and joined the armed forces. He was seconded from the Duke of Cornwall Regiment to the Royal Air Force in June 1918. [The RAF had been formed from the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in April 1918.] Lieutenant George Ramsay of 49 Squadron was a pilot engaged in low level bombing operations on the Somme, when his plane was shot down by enemy aircraft near Albert on 8 August 1918, and George was killed. This was on the first day of the Battle of Amiens.

According to an article in the Scotsman of 8 August 2018, a service had been held in Amiens Cathedral with The First Minister of Scotland, The British Prime Minister and Prince William in attendance to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Amiens. The Battle of Amiens was seen as the turning point of the war against Germany The article goes on to say “Among those killed on the first day was fighter pilot George Ramsay, 25, from Queen’s Park Football Club (sic) in Glasgow on a low level bombing mission with the RAF. Ramsay gave up a promising football career to join his team mates at the Western Front.

George is commemorated at the Arras Flying Services Memorial in France. We commemorate his life in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle Fallen →.

(DMAC)



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