Ramage, almost the exact contemporary of Hornblower with whom he served as a midshipman, and whose passion for whist he remembers, is the eldest son of an Earl and a child of privilege: though he suffers from the past history of his father and his political stance (as does Jack Aubrey).
He therefore has no sense of inferiority because of his origins like that that bedevils Merewether and Delancey, and to a lesser extent Hornblower himself; Aubrey and Bolitho are close to being his social equals, but he has neither Aubrey's besetting money worries nor Bolitho's self doubts.
Of all of them, his good looks, self-assurance, automatic assumption of leadership make him more than any the quintessence of the Boys' Own Paper hero. Women rarely featured in the Boys' Own Paper: had they done so they would probably have had much in common with Ramage's women, and fallen for him as readily - even if Gianna di Volterra eventually places more importance on her country and her cause.
Of all the heroes, Ramage is probably the only one who could have walked out of the pages of Georgette Heyer or even Barbara Cartland.

b. 1175 at Blazey Hall, Cornwall, eldest son of the Vice-Admiral the Earl of Blazey; m. Sarah.
Experienced considerable difficulties in his career because of the political stance of his father, who was court-martialled in 1783 after an unsuccessful action against superior forces in the West Indies. After his court martial, the family lived for some time in Italy.
Midshipman 1788 in Superb with Hornblower.
Third Lieutenant in Sibella, sunk in action, Western Mediterranean, 1796: courtmartialled for the loss at Bastia.