Gordon Ramsay Family History

Gordon James Ramsay was born on November 8th, 1966 to Gordon and Helen Ramsay in the town of Johnstone, Renfrewshire in Scotland.

His family moved to England when he was nine, but he had a chaotic childhood as his father was often drunk and abusive.  In 1982 at the age of sixteen he left home and moved into a flat in Banbury, Oxfordshire.  While there he enrolled in a course in hotel management and this piqued his interest in French cuisine.

He trained with some of the world’s leading chefs, such as Albert Roux and Marco Pierre White in London and Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon in France. He became the head chef of Aubergine which was awarded two Michelin stars within three years.

He then set up his own London restaurant Restaurant Gordon Ramsay which quickly received the most prestigious accolade in the culinary world – three Michelin stars.  He has since opened a string of successful restaurants across the globe and become well-known to the public through his various TV series.

The Ramsay Trail

These Ramsays came to Scotland from Ireland, probably Fermanagh, around 1850 at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland.

Ramsays in Scotland.  The first record of these Ramsays in Scotland was in Paisley, Renfrewshire in the 1851 census where George Ramsay was recorded as a general laborer.  Then came the marriage of his son James to Martha Watson in Paisley in 1871.  Paisley was known at that time for its cotton mills and it is probable that this James Ramsay and/or his son James Watson Ramsay found work there.

A later James or Jimmy Ramsay married Annie Scott at Port Glasgow during the War in 1941 and they had two sons, Ronald and Gordon.

Gordon Ramsay Sr.  This Gordon married Helen Cosgrove, a nurse, in Scotland in 1964 and they moved to England with their young family in 1975.

Gordon junior was the second of their four children.  He described his early life as “hopelessly itinerant” and said that his family moved constantly due to his father getting fired from his jobs.  He worked at different times as a swimming pool manager, welder, and shopkeeper.

At home Gordon senior was often drunk and violent and his wife endured frequent beatings.  Eventually when they were in Somerset, after twenty years of this abuse, Helen took her kids to a refuge.  They stayed there for nine months before picking up the pieces of their lives.

Gordon senior died in Margate, Kent in 1997 of alcoholism.  One of his sons Ronnie became a drug addict; while Gordon junior went on to become a millionaire celebrity chef.

Gordon Ramsay’s Family Tree

• George Ramsay from Fermanagh in Ireland (1805-1872) m. Margaret Cheaney (b. 1803) and came to Paisley, Scotland around 1850
• – Christopher Ramsay (b. 1819)
• – Catherine Ramsay (b. 1821)
• – Margaret Ramsay (b. 1834)
• – James Ramsay (b. 1839)

• Scotland

• James Ramsay from Ireland m. Martha Watson (b. 1845) in Paisley in 1871
• – James Watson Ramsay (1873-1926)

• James Watson Ramsay m. Jeanie Parker (1876-1947) in Paisley in 1896
• – Martha Whiteford nee Ramsay (b. 1900)
• – James Watson (Jimmy) Ramsay (1916-1964)

• James Watson (Jimmy) Ramsay m. Annie Scott (1914-1997) in Port Glasgow in 1941
• – Ronald Ramsay (b. 1941) m. Kitty Kimmins
• – Gordon Ramsay (1942-1997)

• Gordon Ramsay m. Helen Cosgrove (b. 1946) in Scotland in 1964 and moved to England in 1975.  They divorced in 1994
• – Diane Ramsay (b. 1964) m. Trevor (builder)
• – Gordon Ramsay (b. 1966), celebrity chef
• – Ronnie Ramsay (b. 1968), drug addict
• – Yvonne Ramsay (b. 1970)

• Gordon Ramsay m. Tana Hutcheson (b. 1974) in London in 1996
• – Megan Ramsay (b. 1998)
• – twin Jack Ramsay (b. 2000), UK Royal Marines
• – twin Holly Ramsay (b. 2000). engaged to Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty
• – Matilda (Tilly) Ramsay (b. 2002)
• – Oscar Ramsay (b. 2019)
• – Jesse Ramsay (b. 2023)