Benjamin Hall Blyth (14 July 1819 – 21 August 1866) was a Scottish

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

Life

Blyth was born at 26 Minto St in Newington, Edinburgh, the son of Robert Brittain Blyth, an iron merchant, and his wife, Barbara Cooper. He was their third son, and the first to survive to adulthood. Blyth had exceptional mental arithmetic skills. At the age of six, he astonished his father by mentally calculating the exact number of seconds he had lived since birth to that moment. In school, he stood out in performance, especially excelling in arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. Blyth was trained as a railway engineer under an apprenticeship with Grainger & Miller, a railway contractor. In 1848, he established an engineering practice on the prestigious George Street (at no 124) in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

where it would remain for the next 100 years. In 1854, after his brother Edward Lawrence Ireland Blyth finished his own apprenticeship with Grainger & Miller, Benjamin took him into partnership in the renamed ''B & E Blyth''. The practice did work for the Caledonian, Glasgow and South Western, Scottish Central, Dundee and Perth, Great North of Scotland and

Portpatrick Portpatrick is a village and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in br ...

railway companies. Blyth was a first cousin of Arthur Blyth, who was three times premier of South Australia in the 19th century. Their fathers were brothers.Blyth, E.L.I. 1893, The family of Blythe or Blyth of Norton and Birchet His older sister was Scottish philanthropist, educational and campaigner Phoebe Blyth. Blyth married Mary Dudgeon Wright in Leith, Edinburgh, on 1 August 1848. They initially lived at 26 Minto Street in the south of Edinburgh. Mary took on clerical duties in the early stages of Blyth's company. From 1854 they lived at 12 Hope Terrace, Edinburgh. Blyth died from diabetes aggravated by overwork at home in

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

on 21 August 1866 and is buried in the Grange Cemetery, being survived by his wife, seven sons and two daughters. His wife died of cancer and meningitis in 1868, and their children were subsequently raised by his wife's sister, Elizabeth Scotland Wright. His eldest son Benjamin Blyth II took over his father's practice and the company remains in business to this day as Blyth and Blyth. His house served as the offices of Scottish Natural Heritage between 1950 and 2003 then reverted to its use as a family home.

Employees

The harbour engineer,

William Dyce Cay William Dyce Cay, MICE FRSE (28 March 1838 – 13 December 1925) was a Scottish civil engineer. He was responsible for the majority of late 19th century works to Aberdeen harbour. He was described by his cousin, James Clerk Maxwell, as a "water ...

, worked under Blyth on the Castle Douglas to

Railway in 1861.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blyth, Benjamin 1819 births 1866 deaths 19th-century Scottish businesspeople People from North Berwick 19th-century Scottish engineers Scottish civil engineers Engineers from Edinburgh British railway civil engineers Burials at the Grange Cemetery