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.

Gordon has a recurring affectionate rivalry with his mother Helen who has often featured in his TV shows.

Ramsays in Scotland

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

The family scattered at that time.  George Ramsay and two of his younger children arrived in Scotland, another three children emigrated to America, while a daughter married and set off with her husband for New Zealand.

The first record of these Ramsays in Scotland was in Paisley, Renfrewshire in the 1851 census. George Ramsay was recorded as a general laborer there.  Later came the marriage of his son James to Martha Watson in 1871.  At the time the family was living in crowded tenements on Castle Street in Paisley.

However, the next few years saw a number of epidemics hit the town.  George Ramsay, his wife Margaret, and children Margaret and James all succumbed at this time.  Only James’s wife Martha and baby son James survived.

Paisley was known at that time for its cotton mills.  But this James was recorded as a brick makers laborer in the 1891 and 1901 censuses.  He married Jeanie Parker in 1896.

A later James or Jimmy Ramsay, born in 1916, married Annie Scott at Port Glasgow during the War in 1941 and they had two sons, Ronald and Gordon (Gordon’s father).

Gordon’s Father

Gordon Ramsay Sr. 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 (1799-1872) m. Margaret Chenie (1803-1873) around 1818 and came to Paisley, Scotland with their younger children around 1850
• – Christopher Ramsay (b. 1819), emigrated to America
• – Catherine Ramsay (b. 1821). emigrated to America
• – Isabella Ramsay (b. 1823), emigrated to America
• – Margaret Ramsay (1832-1875), emigrated to Scotland and m. James Martin in Paisley
• – Jane Ramsay (1835-1923) m. Robert Ramsay and emigrated to New Zealand
• – James Ramsay (1843-1873), emigrated to Scotland

• Scotland

• James Ramsay from Ireland m. Martha Watson (1845-1912) in Paisley in 1871
• – James Watson Ramsay (1872-1926)

• James Watson Ramsay m. Jeanie Parker (1876-1947) in Paisley in 1896
• – Martha Ramsay (1900-1966) m. James Whiteford
• – James Watson (Jimmy) Ramsay (1916-1999)

• 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 Lane (builder) in 1996
• – 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), police officer
• – twin Jack Ramsay (b. 2000), UK Royal Marines
• – twin Holly Ramsay (b. 2000), influencer m. Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty in 2025
• – Matilda (Tilly) Ramsay (b. 2002), TV presenter
• – Oscar Ramsay (b. 2019)
• – Jesse Ramsay (b. 2023)