Christian Ramsay facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Countess of Dalhousie
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A portrait of Christian Ramsay, beside a watercolour of a flower and a bird
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| Born |
Christian Broun
28 February 1786 Coalstoun, East Lothian, Scotland
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| Died | 22 January 1839 (aged 52) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Other names | Lady Dalhousie |
| Spouse(s) | George Ramsay |
| Children | 3 sons, including James |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
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Christian Ramsay, Countess of Dalhousie (born 28 February 1786 – died 22 January 1839) was a Scottish scientist. She was especially interested in plants and nature. People often called her Lady Dalhousie.
She married George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie. She traveled with him to many places. These included Nova Scotia, Canada, and India. Her husband had important jobs there. He was a governor and a military leader. While traveling, Lady Dalhousie collected many types of plants. She also wrote about them and shared her findings. She even gave plant collections to different science groups.
Lady Dalhousie became an honorary member of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. She was the only woman with this honor until she passed away. A type of tropical plant, called Dalhousiea, is named after her.
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Her Family Life
Christian Broun was born on February 28, 1786. Her family home was Coalstoun in East Lothian, Scotland. She was the only child of Christian McDowal and Charles Broun. Her family had many lawyers and judges. Her father was a lawyer, and her grandfather was a judge.
On May 14, 1805, she married George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie. After marrying him, she became the Countess of Dalhousie.
Christian and George had three sons. Their youngest son, James, was born in 1812. He later became a very important leader in India.
Her Scientific Work
Lady Dalhousie loved studying plants. She kept detailed records of them on special sheets called herbarium sheets. She wrote down when and where she found each plant. She also added notes about where they grew. Sometimes, she even painted beautiful pictures of the plants.
In 1824, her husband helped start a science group in Canada. It was called the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. Lady Dalhousie's list of Canadian plants was put in the group's first magazine in 1829. She also gave a speech to the society. She donated her collection of plants from Nova Scotia to them.
Lady Dalhousie later gave her entire collection of Indian plants to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. The society was very impressed with her work. They made her an honorary member in 1837. She was the only woman to have this special title at that time. She also sent many plants from India to a famous botanist, Sir William Hooker, in England. Her plant collections were later used by another scientist, Joseph Dalton Hooker, to write a book about Indian plants.
Her Exciting Travels
Lady Dalhousie traveled a lot because of her husband's jobs.
Life in Canada
In 1816, her husband became the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. She traveled with him and their three sons to Canada. They sailed on a ship called HMS Forth. The family lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for four years. Lady Dalhousie spent her time promoting science there. She explored the countryside with her husband. She also collected many plants. She sent seeds back to their home, Dalhousie Castle, for the gardens. A famous plant scientist, William Jackson Hooker, called her a "very zealous botanist." This means she was very dedicated to studying plants.
In 1820, her family moved to Quebec. Her husband became the Governor General of British North America. Lady Dalhousie took on the role of a governor's wife. She supported art and literature. She was also known for her cleverness and funny drawings of people. Once settled, Lady Dalhousie and her friends, Anne Mary Perceval and Harriet Sheppard, focused on nature. They especially worked on listing all the local plants. All three women sent plants and letters to Sir William Hooker. He gave them credit in his book about North American plants.
Return to Scotland and India
In 1824, the family returned to Dalhousie Castle in Scotland. They planned to create a huge garden there. Their gardener said that few people were as skilled in plant science as Lady Dalhousie. However, their plans for the garden were stopped. The family lost a lot of money because their financial helper went bankrupt.
Even though the garden wasn't finished, many North American plants grew there. Some flowered for the first time in Great Britain. In 1826, the family moved to a smaller house. They stayed there until 1829. That year, Lord Dalhousie was made the Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of India.
On their journey to India, they stopped at several places. These included Madeira, St. Helena, and the Cape of Good Hope. At each stop, Lady Dalhousie took time to collect plants. She made detailed lists of everything she found. In 1831, she visited the mountains of Simla and Penang in Asia.
Her Legacy
Lady Dalhousie died suddenly on January 22, 1839. She was 52 years old. Some stories say she was so dedicated to her studies that she died with a list of plants in her hand.
Her amazing plant collections were later sold. Parts of them went to museums and archives in Canada. Many plant samples she collected are now kept at the Royal Botanical Gardens (Ontario).
A botanist named Robert Graham named a type of flowering plant after her. It is called Dalhousiea and grows in India. One plant she sent to him was a new discovery. So, he named that plant Asplenium dalhousiae after her too. Sir William Hooker dedicated a whole book of plant drawings to her. A Canadian writer, Julia Catherine Beckwith, also dedicated her first novel to Lady Dalhousie. Another plant, Rhododendron dalhousieae, was named for her by Joseph Dalton Hooker.
