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I'm certain that my information is accurate, and that the Ritchie family originated in Glasgow as I previously described (my wife is the great grand-daughter of William and Margaret - nee Oliphant, of Dunnottar House) ...I feel it would have been impolite to state directly that coplant's Dundee Ritchie family were not the Dunnottar House lot.  My wife's father Robin Ritchie b.1904, was the son of artist Charles E Ritchie - who was one of four (or five, sorry, I have them all recorded in great detail in my computerised "tree" which, as I mentioned is not easy for me to navigate now - it's my eyes y'know.) boys and a girl, children of William and Margaret Ritchie. All the sons of William and Margaret went to Oxford and gained law degrees. In the interests of continuity of the progress of William Ritchie, from Glasgow to Dunnottar House, I must refer back to my earlier comment about William and Margaret living in Bridge of Allan with Margarets parents, the Oliphant, that was from the 1861 census in which William describes himself, not only as a distiller, but "Distiller Stonehaven".  I spent hundreds of hours over a period of several years, researching my family and extended family roots...but for the past few years have left the records alone. 
Sorry about the rambling, but thanks coplani, for nudging me to, to some stent, have a renewed interest in the Ritchies of Dunnottarr House.

...... I should have added an acknowledgement; I'm sorry to hear that Eric died in 1989.

Kind regards Peter

You have indeed WillSG....many thanks for the photos.

I'll reply to your direct email soon.

Kind regards Pete

Hello Willsg, Sandra, Ian and all...I'm pleased to see that, after several years of dormancy, the subjects of Dunnottar House and the Ritchie family, have been revived.
Since my last contributions, I have married (in November 2010) the lady that I previously referred to as the great granddaughter of Capt. William Ritchie; and, therefore, the great niece of Henry Oliphant Ritchie...who's brother, Charles Edward Ritchie was my wife's grandfather.  As her descendence was through the male line, she retained the Ritchie family name until her first marriage.
I developed an interest in researching my family history many years ago, and that has lead me into extending this to my wife's family. 
I have compiled a very extensive computerised family tree/date base, with many photographs and notes relating to events in the lives of those recorded.  Although I have a large number of photos of my family members, it appears that the Ritchie's tended to avoid being photographed, and I have virtually none - indeed, the one Ian provided, of a group of folk at the front of Dunnottar House (I feel that they are likely be the Ritchie family), is the only one I have....and that's perhaps debatable. 
The notes that I record and attach to the individuals' entries, are, in many cases, quite simple in essence....but they provide clues as to the nature and interests of those people....I have saved the comments made by Willsg regarding the rifle that belonged to Henry Oliphant Ritchie, and attached them to his entry in my "tree"....I would love to have a photograph of the rifle, Willsg.... that would be a rather poignant link with....I believe he was known as "Harry".   I used to do a lot of shooting and fishing - 12 bore rather than rifle; and there are very personal and emotional associations between the outdoors, the seasons of the year, the guns and respect for the wildlife involved.
During my research, I was in touch with the Archivist to the Royal Collection Trust in Windsor....I was in the process of arranging to buy copies of portraits of some of the recipients of the Order of Merit, that were painted by Charles Edward Ritchie (my wife's grandfather - I thought!).  Although Charles was a noted artist, there was an Australian contemporary, with exactly the same name and producing his paintings during the same period of time.  It transpired that the Tasmanian Charles Edward Ritchie was responsible for the Order of Merit portraits. 
   

Hello Jamie, Coplani, Lass and all

This is somewhat late in the day perhaps, but I would like to contribute as I am very interested in much of the information, and in particular the photographs, relating to Dunnottar House.   I am in the process of conducting genealogical research into the family of my partner whose great grandfather William Ritchie, a distiller in Stonehaven, lived with his family for many years in Dunnottar House.

As census records have William Ritchie and his family residing at Dunnottar House in 1881, 1891 and 1901, it would appear that they must have been tenants prior to purchasing the property around 1901 - from Charles Forbes?   As the photograph provided by Coplani was from around 1900, perhaps members of the Ritchie family are included.....unfortunately my fiance has no family photos from any period before the 1950's.  I wonder if Jamie and/or Coplani have any more information or photographs regarding the house around this period.   It is also of interest that William's brother David (wine and spirit merchant) lived for some time nearby at Netherley House - it seems that this house too was sold by the Forbes family in around 1901.

Regards Pete

Hi Lass

Charles McKay Forbes, who sold the house in 1900, was my great grandfather. My mother has the sale particulars at home, which have all the details of the house (albeit in Victorian estate agent speak!) and a few pictures. When I am at home over Christmas I will try to take some copies and post them.

If you could PM the picture you have at some point, I'd be very grateful.

IMJC - it's amazing to me to think that you actually lived there! I'm fascinated by the photos: I wonder if the earlier one has any of my relatives in it.

Best

Jamie