Do you recognise the location of this former chemist shop in Lundin Links? This is not at the corner of Links Road and Emsdorf Street where the present chemist's is located. This one was on Hillhead Street in the premises which now contains the Doctor's Surgery. Peter Cowie occupied this space within in David Lindsay's building in the early 1900s. He also had another chemist shop in Upper Largo.
The son of a farmer, Peter Cowie was born in 1871 in Turriff, Aberdeenshire. By the age of 19, he was a chemist's apprentice in MacDuff and ten years later a chemist in his own right in Turriff. However, the death of Upper Largo chemist Charles Thomson late in 1901 (aged only 31) saw Peter Cowie relocate to Fife and take over the chemist on the north side of Upper Largo's Main Street (believed to be in the shop shown below, number 25).
Below is the full 1909 advert for Peter Cowie, Chemist and Druggist. Note the dark room available for free use by amateur photographers. Also see the telephone numbers at the foot of the advert, reflecting that these were the very early days of telephony. Finally, at the very end of this post is a 'then and now' image of number 4 Hillhead Street.