Portrait of William Mitchell Ramsay

Birthday profile

William Mitchell Ramsay

William Mitchell Ramsay, Scottish archaeologist and scholar (died 1939)

Born
March 15, 1851
Died
April 20, 1939
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1851

About William Mitchell Ramsay

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (15 March 1851 – 20 April 1939) was a British archaeologist and New Testament scholar. He was the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor, and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament. Ramsay was educated in the Tübingen school of thought (founded by F. C. Baur) which doubted the reliability of the New Testament, but his extensive archaeological and historical studies convinced him of its historical accuracy. From the post of Professor of Classical Art and Architecture at Oxford, he was appointed Regius Professor of Humanity at Aberdeen. Knighted in 1906 to mark his distinguished service to the world of scholarship, Ramsay also gained three honorary fellowships from Oxford colleges, nine honorary doctorates from British, Continental and North American universities, and became an honorary member of almost every association devoted to archaeology and historical research. At the end of his career he became involved in Christian apologetics, which combined with his argumentative and caustic tendencies ultimately harmed his reputation among scholars. He died at his home in Bournemouth on the 20th of April, 1939.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when William Mitchell Ramsay was born

William Mitchell Ramsay was born in 1851. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1851

  • Best-selling bookMoby-Dick by Herman Melville

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineGreat Exhibition in London — first World's Fair
  • Technology milestoneIsaac Singer patents practical sewing machine
  • World population~1.31B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderMillard Fillmore
  • U.S. population23.8M

1851 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in William Mitchell Ramsay's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18512026
Population23.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.