T. W. Blyth was born in Perth in 1865 and was an apprentice grocer by age 16 in Kettle, Fife. The 1891 census finds him (age 26) married and working as a grocer in Auchtermuchty. However, it must have been in the same year that he moved to the Largo area to set up a Family Grocer in Lundin Mill. The above advertisement dates from 1897 when he would have been the established grocer in the village at a time when a row of new shops had just been set up on Leven Road.
In May of 1899, Blyth was given a 'complimentary dinner' in Forrester's Private Hotel on the occasion of his leaving the area. The large gathering was "representative of the leading people resident in the district as well as of the summer visitors from Edinburgh, Glasgow and other centres" according to the Courier of 8 May. In addition to spending nine years as a merchant in Lundin Mill, Blyth had been known for his "services to the Horticultural Society and his generosity to the poor". In the course of the various speeches and toasts given, Mr Blyth had remarked that "the happiest time of his life had been spent within sound of the waters of Largo Bay" and frequent references were made to "the blank that Mr Blyth's removal would cause in the many public bodies with which he had been so long and honourably connected."
Blyth went on to become a representative of Fife Distillery, living in Collessie. Later he moved to Kirkcaldy continuing to work in the grocery and spirits trade. It was there that he died in 1944 age 79.
Blyth went on to become a representative of Fife Distillery, living in Collessie. Later he moved to Kirkcaldy continuing to work in the grocery and spirits trade. It was there that he died in 1944 age 79.
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