General Sir Henry Ramsay, KCSI, CB. (1816–1893) was a general in the Indian Army, Commissioner of the Kumaon

Kumaon Division

For Kumaoni/Kumauni People see Kumauni PeopleKumaon or Kumaun is one of the two regions and administrative divisions of Uttarakhand, a mountainous state of northern India, the other being Garhwal. It includes the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, and Udham Singh Nagar...

 and Garwhal

Garhwal District

Garhwal lies in the northern region of India. It is a part of the state Uttrakhand and is bounded on four sides by Tibet , Uttar Pradesh, Kumaon region and Himachal Pradesh....

 districts. He is regarded as one of the great soldier-administrators of British India.

General Hon. Sir Henry Ramsay was born on 25 August 1816. He was the son of Lt.-Gen. Hon. John Ramsay and Mary Delise. He married Laura Lushington (daughter of the previous Commissioner of the Kumaon) in 1850 and together they had five children. He died on 16 December 1893 at the age of 77.

In 1840, Ramsay was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Kumaon, when a colonel in the Bengal Army. Ramsay was amongst the most able of the British officials posted to the Kumaon district, and came to enjoy the respect and support of the people. His modest and genial approach ensured the region remained loyal to the British. In 1856 Ramsay became Commissioner and worked another 28 years in the Garhwal and Kumaon.

The Commissioner was based in Almora

Almora

Almora is a municipal board, a cantonment town in the Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Almora was founded in 1568.It is a town bustling with activity and a rich cultural heritage and history. It is considered the cultural heart of the Kumaon region of...

, but moved the administration 23 km to the cooler Binsar during the summer. In 1875, Ramsay bought land measuring about 26 acres (105,218.4 m²) at Binsar from Sri Jai Sah of Almora known as Binsar Orchard situated in Pargana Baramandal District Almora (formerly called Kumaon District), now a heritage resort namely The Grand Oak Manor. Where he built his residential bungalow and staff quarters from where he used to administer the region and the civil and criminal courts were also held here. He later sold the property on 22 February 1893(ref: http://www.grandoakbinsar.com). And another property near Binsar known as ‘Khali’, meaning empty, where he built a bungalow that now is now a resort. After retiring in 1884, Ramsay had hoped to live in Khali, but had to return to England. In the 1930s Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit was an Indian diplomat and politician, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, the aunt of Indira Gandhi and the great-aunt of Rajiv Gandhi, all of whom served as Prime Minister of India.In 1921 she married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, who died on 14 January 1944...

, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister lived in the house.

For his services in the Kumaon Ramsay was invested as Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India

Order of the Star of India

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...

 (K.C.S.I.) and later as a Companion of the Order of the Bath

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

(C.B.).

According to P Whalley, "Henry Ramsay not only consolidated the earlier gains (of previous Kumaon Commissioners' Traill, Gardner, Batten & Lushington) but propelled Kumaon-Garwhal into the mainstream of modern India".