Recent blog posts have covered the pioneering Leven golf club maker John Patrick (1820-1866), and two of his sons - Alex Patrick (1845-1932) and David Patrick (1858-1948). To continue the family story into a third generation, this post will begin with John Patrick (1851-1916) and his sons who continued in the business and took the family expertise overseas. 
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John Malcolm Patrick was born in Leven in 1851, six years after elder brother Alex and seven years before younger brother David. John was a teenager when his father John, a pioneering maker of golf clubs, died of cholera in 1866. The 1871 census records John in Govan, Glasgow, working as a blacksmith. On 27 December 1872 John married Margaret Steedman in Colinton, Edinburgh. On the marriage record, John's usual address was given as Campbeltown, Argyll and his occupation was practical engineer. The couple's first son, John, was born in Campbeltown on 20 January 1875, where John was employed as an 'engine fitter'.

However, by 1876, the family were back in Leven where John switched his occupation to golf club making like his older brother Alex. In the 1881 census, John, Margaret and family were recorded as living at Parkhill Place in Leven. Between 1876 and 1883 six further children were born to the pair in Leven. Then around 1884 the family moved to Dunbar in East Lothian, then known as Haddingtonshire.
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The advert above from the 5 December 1894 Haddingtonshire Advertiser, shows that John was a golf club and ball maker in Dunbar. However, that phase of his life was short-lived, as the 1891 census finds John and Margaret back in Leven, residing at North Street, with seven children in the household. John was recorded as a golf club maker and his eldest son, John, was an apprentice golf club maker, aged 16. The latter became the third generation golf club maker with the name John Patrick in Leven. His younger brother, Alexander, born in 1878, also followed the golf club making path.​

As young John and Alex moved into golf club making, their father returned to his roots as a blacksmith for a time. The 1901 census finds him in that occupation living in Edinburgh, with wife Margaret and three of their daughters, Mabel, Agnes and Margaret. By then the young John and Alex had emigrated to USA and settled in New York (from around 1895). A passenger list below shows them travelling together from Glasgow to New York in 1896, although this may not have been their first voyage.
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In the USA, young John was employed as instructor and golf club maker at the Tuxedo Club in New York, presumably assisted by younger brother Alex. The demand for quality golf clubs was huge as the sport boomed over there. After a few years at the Tuxedo Club, the brothers became trailblazers in the brand new trend of indoor golf tuition. 

The history of indoor golf appears to date back to 1896, when Willie Dunn began an golf school on New York's 42nd Street. Dunn's enterprise was replicated by the Patrick brothers, who had their indoor golf school on 58th Street, By the turn of the century many major cities had several indoor golf schools, which were particularly popular in winter. Indoor golf venues provided greens made of carpet and high nets to catch the specially adapted balls. Practising of swings and putting were well suited to the format. 

On 26 January 1899, the Leven Advertiser carried an interesting news story from New York City. The piece begins "We have been favoured by a correspondent in New York with a cutting from a paper published in that city, which will be of much interest to local golfers and Leven folks in general". That cutting discusses how there is no longer any need for the golf enthusiast from New York to venture out of the city to play golf. Now there was a place where one could learn "how to shoot the wily ball through space with an accompaniment of most "burr-y" Scotch". Down a narrow alley was a building with a sign displaying the Patrick name and a pendant reading "Golf School". 

As a final footnote, there were two other sons (brothers of the young John and Alex) - Richard born in 1880 and David born in 1883. Both also emigrated to the USA for roles as golf professionals and golf club makers. These younger brothers remained in the USA for their whole lives. Richard Steedman Patrick is pictured below, as a teenager in the 23 July 1897 Dundee Courier and later in life further below. ​He initially emigrated in 1897 and went on to marry widow Alice Gray Silvey (nee Munger) - a survivor of the Titanic in New York in 1918. He became involved in the diamond mining industry and remained in the USA until his death on 19 March 1949 in Minnesota.

David Murdoch Patrick (born 1883) reportedly emigrated to the USA aged just 15 years and pursued a career as a golf professional. He began at the Century Club in Westchester, New York and later had spells at prestigious clubs in New York, New Jersey and Mexico. He was an active member of the National Association of Greenkeepers of America and at the time of his death in Tennessee in 1932 he was owner and manager of St Andrews Golf Club on the Mississippi.  The Patrick family continues to fascinate to this day and no doubt there is more to find out about this extended family of adventurous innovators. If you have information to share about any member of the Patrick family, please do get in touch or leave a comment.
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The previous post covered the life of John Patrick who was a pioneering maker of golf clubs in Leven from 1847 until his untimely death in 1866. However, John had been training his sons to follow in his footsteps and eldest son Alexander was able to take on the family business at the age of 21. Alexander's younger brothers John, Nicol and David would all follow him into the trade. The photograph above shows the outlet at Lundin Golf Club which was established in the 1890s.

​Initially based at Branch Street by Leven's Shorehead, the club making business moved in the late 1860s to more convenient premises by Leven Links. Matthew Elder, ropemaker, had converted the old washing-house of the bleaching green on the banks of the Scoonie Burn. The Leven and Innerleven Golf Clubs took the upper floors as their clubhouse and Alexander took the ground floor as a shop and workshop. As the business thrived, the premises shown below was built at the corner of Links Road and Balfour Street, around 1892, where a sign above the entrance proudly stated "Established 1847". 
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Alexander married Jemina Kinnell in 1870 in Elie and the following year the 1871 census records the pair at Manse Place in Leven, where Alex is described as "Golf Club and Ball Maker, employing 2 apprentices". A decade later, in 1881 they had moved to a home closer to Leven Golf Links and were at Sweetbank Cottages on Links Road, with Alex's occupation listed as "Master Golf Club Maker employing 1 man". 

Later in the 1880s, Alex and Jemima moved to Surrey. Alex had been appointed professional and green keeper at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club. Notably, the position came with a salary of 30s per week and a free shop, enabling Alex to open a branch of his club and ball making business in the south of England. The notice above from the 2 October 1886 Fifeshire Advertiser tells of a "complimentary supper" held for Alex prior to his leaving Leven.

He would remain at Wimbledon for five years, living on the edge of Wimbledon Common. From his shop there, Patrick clubs were sent all over the world. While down south he also took on a few other projects - for example he laid out the course at Epsom Golf Club. When on a leave of absence in the summer of 1887 for another project, Alex insisted that his brother David Patrick took his place as professional temporarily.  Meanwhile the business back in Leven business continued and in 1891 Alex decided return to Leven. His brother David took his position at Wimbledon permanently.
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The 1890s were a booming era for golf locally and in 1896 when Lundin Golf Club opened a new club house, Alex Patrick established a branch of his club making business adjacent to it. The advert below appeared in the 23 September 1897 Leven Advertiser, when the business was already half a century old, illustrating the range of clubs and balls being produced at that time. By the time of the ​1901 census, Alex and Jemima were in a newly built home on Linksfield Street in Leven which they named Wimbledon Villa.  
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Of course, over time the demand for golf clubs had grown and rival club makers had joined the scene. Different techniques in club making had evolved and naturally there was debate around the merits of different styles of equipment. The 1 June 1899 Leven Advertiser above, describes some of the local club makers of the time. The 16 January 1899 Dundee Advertiser, below, quoted Alexander Patrick from a piece in the publication 'Golfing' on the types of clubs he makes, highlighting his pride in his "wooden putters".

Alexander was something of an expert on the history of golf clubs and had a collection of old clubs. A 12 June 1909 St Andrews Citizen article explained that the two clubs that Alex had displayed in his shop window at the time were hazel and gutta percha clubs that came from South Africa. The piece also stated that "Mr Patrick has in his shop several very ancient iron headed clubs, one of these a driving iron being over 100 years old". The 1906 advert below suggests that by this time the making of golf balls had ceased and balls were now supplied by a large manufacturer.

In July 1909 Alexander retired from the business. The 21 July Leven Advertiser noted that he was succeeded by David James Sellars who was a native of Surrey, and had been engaged in the sports supplies business around London. He came to Fife around the turn of the century to act as foreman for Alex Patrick. Sellars continued the well-established Patrick name for many more years, until his own death in 1936, when the plant, machinery, tools and stock of the Linkside Works were sold off.

Alex lived out his retirement at Wimbledon Villa on Linksfield Street. Singing was his main leisure pursuit and he was a leading member of Leven Choral Union (later Leven Amateur Musical Association). His wife Jemima died in 1914 and thereafter his sisters (who had played administrative roles in the family business) lived with him. 

Alexander died in 1932 aged 86 at Wimbledon Villa and is buried at Scoonie Cemetery with his parents and wife. His life was a remarkable story of a passion for golf, dedication to the family business and to his younger siblings, master craftmanship, innovation and invention. The name of Alex Patrick lives on through the much sought after his antique golf clubs of varying ages, many of which bear his distinctive horseshoe cleekmark and the appropriate words "well made".

The pair of images of Largo Kirk and Church Place above show that, while the appearance of the area is little changed in over a century, the way that this space is used has altered quite significantly. The green in front of the church was once a hub of village life, with its communal water pump and drying green. Theses features stand out in the foreground of the 1890s photograph, captured by Lady Henrietta Gilmour of Montrave, one of Scotland's earliest women photographers. Her photographic collection is now held by St Andrews University and the image is courtesy of University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums.

One of the enterprises featured in the 1890s photograph was Andrew Baird's butcher (and carriages for hire). Andrew was born around 1848, as he is noted as aged 3 in the 1851 census. He was the illegitimate son of John Baird (a Methil based flax dresser) and Elspeth Keddie, who was likely employed in the same flax works. By the time of the 1861 census, Andrew was working in the mill, alongside his mother and brother. In 1871 he had changed both occupation and residence, and was an agricultural labourer, based at Balgrummo Farm near Scoonie.

As an agricultural labourer, Andrew would have moved from farm to farm. Eventually he met Margaret Lawson, with whom he had a child in 1873 in Leuchars. The pair went on the marry in 1876 (and eventually had a further thirteen children). By 1881, Andrew and Margaret had settled in Kirkton of Largo, where Andrew was working as a carter. The family, with four children at the time, lived on Main Street close to McGregor the butcher.

A few years later, in the mid-1880s the opportunity to move into the butcher trade arose, when another Kirkton butcher, David Simpson, moved to Lundin Mill's Hillhead Street. Andrew Baird took over Simpson's vacated premises at Church Place and was recorded there at the 1891 census along with his wife and nine children. Perhaps Andrew had learned some relevant skills from his time working on farms. However, his time as a butcher (or flesher) was not always smooth running. The piece below from 22 December 1888 Fife News tells us that Baird was prosecuted for the foul state of his pig styes.

The following year he was charged with possession of a dog without a license (see 24 May 1889 East of Fife Record below). Further below the 20 August 1890 Commercial Gazette recorded that Andrew Baird was in front of the debt recovery court. 
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In 1894, the butcher premises in Church Place, consisting of a shop, house, stable, byre, etc., was put up for sale (see 1 September 1894 St Andrews Citizen below). This was the same year that Andrew and Margaret Baird's twin infant daughters Elsie and Oona died, aged nine months, from croup, within days of one another. The Baird family relocated to Lundin Mill, at a time when the village was on the cusp of expansion. The 1901 census finds the family living at 3 Rossini Place, just off Emsdorf Street, very close to the newly completed Lundin Links Hotel and the Lundin Links shops. Andrew was working as a carting contractor, assisted by his 13 year old son Andrew. Margaret and three of their younger children completed the household. Andrew rented a stable on Hillhead Street from the widow of butcher David Simpson (whose premises he had taken on a decade beforehand).
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After a lengthy period of illness, Andrew died at Rossini Place on 12 March 1907. His widow, Margaret continued to live at Rossini Place. In the 1911 census she lived there with three of her sons, Andrew (who was a coal miner), John (a colliery pony-driver below ground) and Thomas (shop assistant at a licensed grocer), as well as a 9 year old grandson, also named Andrew. Below is the family headstone, which Andrew shares with his wife Margaret Lawson (who died in 1923) and their two daughters who died in infancy - twins Elsie and Oona.
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John Pearson Douglas Ferrier was born on 25 July 1884 at James Street, in the Pilrig are of Edinburgh, to James Douglas Ferrier, a commercial traveller and grocer's son, and Janet Ferrier (nee Middlemass). Janet, who had two older daughters, had been widowed when her first husband died of tuberculosis. By 1891, the family had moved to from James Street to nearby Montgomery Street.  James had become a Grocer's Assistant and the family appear to have been living above the shop. John Ferrier attended Leith Walk Public School (pictured below). The map further below shows the proximity of those locations:

1. James Street
2. Biscuit Factory (for which James may have acted as a commercial traveller)
3. Montgomery Street
4. Leith Walk Public School

James Ferrier's business must have been successful, as the advert above appeared in the 6 June 1912 Leven Advertiser.  James "removed to new and commodious premises at the west end Upper Largo". The notice stated that he had been in business in the village for eleven years at this point. The photograph below shows the two different shop premises - the new one in the foreground, next door to the United Free Church and his original shop close to the junction with St Andrews Road. The newer shop building, west of the entrance to North Feus, was also demolished long ago.

Two years later, in 1914, the First World War broke out.  John Ferrier was attested under the Derby scheme. and called up in October 1916. He became a Private (No. 267309) with 1/6th (Territorial) Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). He served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from June 1917. Sadly, John was killed in action near Ypres on 16 September 1917, while preparing for the British offensive on the 20th of the month. He was 33 years old. The piece below was published in the 27 September Leven Advertiser. The notice of death further below was published in the 29 September St Andrews Citizen.
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John was buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery near Ypres. At the time of his death, Major C.H. Maxwell wrote to his parents "I have heard how uncomplainingly your son stuck out the hardships of the trenches, and also how bravely you have done your part...He was an honour to the regiment and has died in the tartan." A comrade also wrote saying that the whole company looked on him as the one who would help in any trouble, and added that whenever any difficulty or trouble arose it was always "Let's tell Ferrier". 

John Pearson Douglas Ferrier is one of the 51 men who fell in the First World War named on Largo War Memorial. His name can be seen fourth from top in the photograph above and is noted as D. Ferrier (suggesting that he was actually known by his middle name Douglas). His mother, Janet Ferrier, died the following year aged 74, on 11 December 1918, at home on Upper Largo's Main Street. James Ferrier lived until 16 September 1923. When he died aged 77 at North Feus, the official informant of his death was his friend the joiner Agnew Broomfield.

The Victory Medal belonging to Private J.P.D. Ferrier is pictured below. The medal shows the winged figure of victory on one side and the words THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION 1914-1919 surrounded by a laurel wreath on the other. The medal is bronze, circular and 36 millimetres (1.4 in) in diameter. The recipient's name, rank, service number and unit were impressed on the edge of the medal. This particular medal was issued in 1921, so would have been sent to James Ferrier, John's father and next to kin, his mother having already passed away. Where it has been during the century since James's death is a mystery but its resurfacing now has allowed the story of one of Largo's lost to be retold.

Early picture postcards of the Largo area, such as the one above, featured what is known as an "undivided back". This was where the entire back of the postcard was dedicated to the recipient's address. In fact there was a clear printed instruction "the address only to be written on this side". Should the sender wish to add a note, this would have to be squeezed into whatever space might be available on the front. The picture dominated the front of the postcard but sometimes a border or dedicated area was left empty for a brief message to be added. 

The example above was posted in July 1901 and generously left half of the front available for a message. Note that the sender was staying at the Belmont Hotel. The example below was sent in October 1900 and was a postcard published for Malcolm's Stationery Salon, Leven. It was also generous with the space left for a message - unlike the one further below where only a lower margin was available and the sender chose not to include a message at all. In the case where no message was added it was presumably sufficient to show the recipient where the sender had visited and provide an idea of how the place looked.

When divided back postcards became the norm, the old stock of undivided back postcards could be modified. Such an alteration can be seen in the example below. The sender has carefully added a pen-drawn line down the reverse side, before writing a message on the left hand side. In this case, the space on the front below the image was also used. The images on picture postcards soon filled the entire space on the front side and messages became confined to reverse side. The only exception perhaps being the popular 'X' added to mark the spot where the sender was residing.
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​The Photographic View Album of Lundin Links and District, pictured above, dates to around 1902. The 8 x 11 inch album contains twenty images captured by G.W. Wilson & Company Limited, photographic publishers, of Aberdeen. George Washington Wilson (1823-1893) was an artist turned photographer and his company captured images from all over Britain, as well as overseas, during the second half of the nineteenth century. After Wilson's death in 1893, his sons continued the firm, until it ceased trading in 1908. The album pictured was commissioned by postmistress Margaret Bremner. An order for the albums would have been placed with the company's travelling salesman. Many of the buildings featured in the Lundin Links album had been very recently completed, including the villas along Leven Road, the Lundin Links Hotel and the Post Office itself. 
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The above advert printed at the back of the album mentions the various services offered at the Post and Telegraph Office, including groceries and list of houses for let. The advert also notes that there were "a select variety of mounted views of places of interest on hand". There is no mention at this point of the picture postcards that would become extremely popular from 1902 onwards. Many of the images from the photographic view album went on to appear on G.W.W. trademarked postcards which Margaret Bremner sold from her Post Office to summer visitors.
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The red cover design with the gold floral embellishment on the album's hard-backed cover was a stock design, which can also be seen in examples of albums showcasing other vicinities - such as the one below containing views of Shetland. A great many localities had albums created by G.W.W. and by other photographic publishers, such as Valentine's of Dundee. Further examples are shown further below.

An early photographic view album was one of Kirkcaldy and District, published in 1896 by Valentine's of Dundee. It contained sixteen views of recent photographs and was advertised below in the 25 July 1896 Fife Free Press. There was also a 'Photographic View Album of Largo and District' - a variation of the Lundin Links one, published by John Welsh Postmaster at Lower Largo. If you have seen that one or have a copy, please do leave a comment.
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The previous two blog posts have explored the origins of the former grocer shop at the foot of Hillhead Street (seen on the far left of the image above) and the somewhat turbulent turn of the century period for the shop. The next chapter in its history picks up from the departure of Matthew Barrie to Melrose and the arrival of Lawrence Smith from Carron Bridge, Falkirk. Born in 1881, Lawrence Smith was the eldest son of pattern maker Lawrence Smith senior, and was grocer's assistant at the time of the 1901 census. Five years later he married Alice Lawson and the couple relocated to Fife. The notice below from the 1 November 1906 Leven Advertiser notes the grant of a license for Smith for the Lundin Mill grocer premises. ​

The next year Lawrence and Alice's eldest daughter Jessie Watson Smith was born in Lundin Mill. The 1911 census records Lawrence, Alice and a 3-year-old Jessie in the household. Later that year another daughter, Jean, was born. The photograph below shows Jean (left) and Jessie (right) a couple of years later.
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​The image above shows Jessie outside the entrance to the grocer shop, seated in the carriage of the delivery horse. The same image is below, superimposed on the shop building in more recent times. Nowadays the street is filled with parked cars.

Lawrence Smith can be seen in the photograph above at the rear of the shop with his prize-winning dog and a trophy. He frequently entered dog competitions and was well-known in these sporting circles. Of course, 1914 saw the outbreak of the First World War and in September of that year, Lawrence joined up at Leven. Joining the 9th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders, he left for the front in April 1915. Lawrence is pictured below in his uniform. 

In his absence, the grocer shop was supported by the wider family, including Lawrence's wife Alice, his widowed mother Jean and his younger brother William M. Smith. The extract from the 7 September 1916 Leven Advertiser tells us that two years later, William became the third Smith brother to join the army. According to the valuation roll, the official proprietor of the grocer shop at this time was their mother Jean Smith. 
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Meanwhile, Lawrence had a short spell at home on leave in October 1917. Sadly, only two months later he was killed by an enemy shell on 13 December 1917, aged 36 years. In the 27 December 1917 Leven Advertiser below, Lawrence was described as "an excellent leader of men, and devoid of fear, who had won the hearts of all the men in his platoon" and "a man of outstanding qualities, calm and unperturbable, and always brave and cheerful".  Touchingly the letter received by his widow stated that "you have lost a husband of whom you should be proud and your daughters can always refer to their father in future years as a gallant and efficient soldier". Sergeant Smith was buried with full military hours in a British cemetery. 
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Sergeant Lawrence Smith is one of the 51 men who fell in the First World War named on Largo War Memorial. The detail on the memorial shown below includes his name in the middle of the list on one of the panels.

After the war, the shop continued for a time. The 1920 valuation roll for Largo Parish still lists the property as a shop, with Jean Smith as the proprietor. However, by 1925 the former shop was described as an 'office'. It had become the office of Largo Parish Council (see above) and remained as such for many years, even after the death of Jean Smith in 1934. In October 1925 a "daring fraud" took place in the office when David Smail pretended to have obtained work as a miner. He was given £2 by the Inspector of the Poor to purchase a pick and shovel and to tide his family over until the work began. However, the job did not materialise and he used the money himself, leaving "his wife and children destitute" according to the 22 December 1925 Leven Advertiser below.
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The previous post looked at the early years of the former grocer shop at the foot of Hillhead Street, pictured above. The first owner, for whom the premises were built in 1880, was Thomas Forgan. He sold the business in 1891 to grocer Thomas Blyth, who continued the business into the period when the old village of Lundin Mill was expanding into the fashionable Lundin Links, frequented by city dwellers seeking sea air and golf. Against that backdrop of change, the story of the grocer shop became more complicated for a time.

The report below from the 1 July 1897 Leven Advertiser encapsulates what was happening to the village at the time. The long-standing vision to develop Lundin Links, which dated back to the arrival of the railway in 1857, was finally being realised. New villas were being erected and the beginnings of new facilities to support them were in evidence. In contrast to the weavers cottages of Lundin Mill, these homes had "an air of wealth and refinement" and featured "the latest improvements and conveniences". The enterprise was attracting "ready purchasers and inhabitants".

Booth's name appeared above the grocer shop door and, in fact, close inspection of the shop lintel in recent years reveals the ghostly outline of the name A Booth and the word Licensed in small letters underneath (see photographs below).

Barrie appealed the license refusal, and the following month, the shop's license was returned. The 4 May 1900 East of Fife Record reported that the premises had been licensed for along time, that Barrie was unconnected to the previous owner and tenant, and that nearly 200 persons had signed a petition in favour of the license. The affairs of the grocer shop were finally back on an even keel.
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Matthew Barrie had moved to Lundin Links with his wife Maggie and two infant children, William and Dolina. Another daughter, Phyllis, was born there in 1902. After the early hiccup with the license, Barrie ran a successful business. As the adverts above and below show, he positioned himself as a wine and provision merchant and 'Italian Warehouseman' (a fashionable term used at the time for high-class grocery provision). Whisky was given special mention in his adverts.
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Matthew Barrie moved on in 1905, heading back south to Melrose, where he and son William had a grocer shop on the High Street for many years. William Barrie served in the First World War, operating one of the first tanks to see action in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, following special secret training. He was wounded several times during his service but eventually returned to Melrose and took over his father's grocery business. Below is a view of the Hillhead Street shop from the rear from around the time of the Barrie family. The red arrow on the left points to the shop sign on the gable end, while the other arrow indicates its proximity to the Crusoe Hall (or Temperance Hall), which was a well-used facility at the time.  In the next post, a final part in the story of the shop.

The former grocer shop at the foot of Hillhead Street was situated in what was once the heart of old Lundin Mill - equidistant from Largo Road to the north and Emsdorf Street to the south. It was constructed in 1880 for weaver-turned-grocer Thomas Forgan. Born in Largo in 1821, Forgan found employment as a hand loom weaver, like many in the village at the time. By 1861 Thomas had became a linen weaving agent - someone through whom weaving work came into the area. He must have been successful in the role, as by the 1871 census, Thomas was recorded as "employing 30 men and 20 women" in the linen trade.

However, times were changing and the old hand loom weaving industry was on the wane. Power looms were increasingly being used in larger towns like Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline. The hand looms that were once found in most village homes (including many on Hillhead Street) were dwindling. The 17 September 1874 Fife Herald speaks of a brisk level of business for the remaining weavers in Lundin Mill, yet at low wages.  It states: "Supplied by webs here as we are through agents, work at the hand-loom trade is rife, but weavers have dwindled down in numbers greatly of late, and the "sough o' the shuttle" is now rarely heard. Wide sheetings are being woven by old hands, but wages are low." 

​On 23 February 1877, the Courier stated that "handloom weaving is at present less active here than it was some time ago, and some kinds of webs are scarce, while wages are miserably low." This shift in the linen trade explains why Thomas Forgan was driven to reinvent himself as a grocer. 
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The extract from 1878 Slater's Directory above shows that Thomas Forgan was a grocer prior to the construction of the 1880 shop. It also tells us that there were two other grocers in Lundin Mill at the time - Margaret Bremner (who would go on to run Lundin Links Post Office) and John Kennock. Forgan presumably out-grew his original premises and was in a position to build a new purpose-built shop, incorporating living quarters. The short note below from the 29 May 1880 Fife News announced the construction of "a very handsome building" which would "adorn the village". 

​Successor to the business, Thomas Wilkie Blyth, was born in Perthshire in 1865 and was an apprentice grocer by age 16 in Kettle, Fife. In 1889, he married Mary Taylor Lindsay and the 1891 census finds him working as a grocer in Auchtermuchty. Later that year they moved to Lundin Mill to take over Forgan's enterprise. During the Blyths years in Lundin Mill they raised their young family -  daughters, Agnes (born 1892) and Marjory (1896) and a son named Thomas, who sadly died of scarletina in 1893. 

Upper Largo's former bank was designed by the architect Archibald Scott. His plans for the building were first approved by the National Bank of Scotland in 1848, although their Largo branch did not open until some years later. The 1854 map of the village still shows the previous buildings on the site, which were loom shops associated with the once-thriving hand loom weaving industry.

Archibald Scott was born in 1796 in Dunbar, East Lothian. His architect practice was based at Teviot Row in Edinburgh. He became principal architect to the National Bank, and worked on many of their premises between approximately 1848 and 1860, including banks at Hawick, Castle Douglas, Grantown-on-Spey, Whithorn, Bathgate, Lochmaben and Dalkeith. Scott also designed the National Bank building at Elie, which was linked to the Largo branch and to which it bears some resemblance. The Largo and Elie banks are shown side-by-side below. Note their similar stonework and windows and the shared features such as carved stone shields towards to top of their gables and distinctive skew putts at the gable corners.
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The National Bank of Scotland was founded in 1825. Based in Edinburgh, it had national-level ambitions from the beginning. By 1850 it had 40 branches, growing to eventually to 137 branches. At its height it was second in size only to the Bank of Scotland. In 1959 a merger saw it become National Commercial Bank of Scotland and a decade later it was absorbed into the Royal Bank of Scotland. The bank's archives suggest that the Largo bank building cost £748.10 but that a later payment of £56 was made to Scott in connection with the building in 1860 (likely relating to alterations once operational). 
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The above notice appeared in the 12 March 1857 Fife Herald announcing that Alexander Robertson had been appointed as Bank Agent at Largo. This appears to mark the official beginning of the bank operation, as it is from that year that regular references to the Largo Bank can be found in the local newspapers. 1857 was also the year that William Robinson Ketchen came to Elie from Edinburgh to take charge of the National Bank there. Ketchen (pictured below from the Fife Illustrated News Almanac of 1902), along with other members of his family, would go on to feature prominently in the history of the Largo branch.

By 1858, William Ketchen's younger brother Thomas had become agent at Largo, effectively acting as assistant to William who had oversight of both branches. Thomas Ketchen remained in the role of agent at Largo for decades and is recorded as living in the bank house in four consecutive census records. In 1861 he was at the bank house along with his parents William and Harriet, as well as a servant. A decade later he was recorded with just his widower father and a servant. In 1881 it was only Thomas and a servant in residence but by the 1891 census Thomas had his retired brother Alexander and the latter's wife, living with him, plus a servant. 
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The extracts above from the 1866 Westwood's Directory show that there was also a Savings' Bank and Insurance Agency run by Thomas Ketchen. Below is a list of the various National Bank branch agents in the wider local area in 1858. Of course the agent was supported by a small team of bank clerks. In 1881, two teenage sons of Reverend David Malloch (John and David) were bank clerks at Largo. In 1884, Lundin Links born John Bremner came to work at the Largo branch. He was the younger brother of local postmistress Margaret Bremner and he would go on to manage the National Bank of Scotland at St Enoch Square in Glasgow for 25 years. In fact John Malloch went on to marry Ann Bremner (elder sister of John Bremner, his co-worker at the bank).
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In 1893, Henry Martin Ketchen, son of William Robinson Ketchen became joint-agent at Largo with his father. His uncles, Thomas and Alexander Ketchen, both died in 1894. Henry undertook legal work in the Largo area and was the Secretary of the Largo Granary Company. In 1897, W. R. Ketchen, now retired moved to Largo, where he took a great interest in public life and was elected to Largo County Council. He later moved back to Elie, where he died in 1901.

It was around that time that Ketchen's former apprentice, John More Dall, took over at Largo, remaining there until his retiral in 1930. The National Bank expanded its network of branches in the aftermath of the First World War and in 1921 the directors decided to open a branch at Lundin Links, as a sub-branch of Largo and to protect its business in the locality in the face of competition from the Commercial Bank of Scotland and the British Linen Bank. The sub-branch thrived and made a significant contribution to the profits of the Largo parent bank. During the 1930s there were three banks within the row of businesses on Leven Road, Lundin Links.

In 1930, Guy McConnell succeeded John More Dall, having moved to Largo from the chief office in Glasgow. He had previously worked in branches in Leven and Kirkcaldy. Like earlier bank agents, McConnell had a number of other roles within the community including auditor for the Largo Silver Band (see notice below from 7 Feb 1939 Leven Advertiser) and treasurer of the Largo and Newburn Nursing Association. He remained as Largo agent into the 1940s.

The Second World War had a huge impact on the National Bank of Scotland as a whole, and on the Largo branch in particular. Three members of staff from the Largo branch joined the war effort, one of whom was killed in action. Rival banks ended up closing their branches in Lundin Links, enabling the National Bank to take over the prominent corner site on Leven Road at Crescent Road. At the end of the war this branch was elevated to full branch status (and eventually would subsume the Upper Largo bank).
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​By 1950, Guy McConnell had left the Largo bank was living in Anstruther.  James M Johnston became agent at Largo but by now there had been a shift in the dynamics between Upper Largo and Lundin Links. The notice above appeared in the Leven Mail each week in May 1958, highlighting the imminent closure of the original branch. Its last day open was 31 May 1958, bringing a century of banking on the Upper Largo site to an end. The branch's business was transferred to the Lundin Links branch on Leven Road, pictured below. The bank building in Upper Largo became a private residence.
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