NEWPORT ON TAY - Key Persons
The first provost of Newport was Provost Alexander Scott of Ashbank Villa on Tay Street, now number 68. He served as provost for three terms of office from 1887 until 1896. In recognition of this period of service, Scott Street was named in his honour and a silver rosebowl and salver were presented to him by the community. These items would be the start of an impressive collection of burgh regalia, which would include the burgh halberd and chains of office for the provost and for the two bailies. Many of these items and others are on display in the library heritage area.
Meanwhile, down at the pier, Andrew Chalmers opened a chemist shop in the pier buildings and was in business there from 1897 until the 1940s. In the 1924 Newport guide, this shop was described as "an Establishment of Interest to Tourists and Amateur Photographers". In their pharmacy work everything used was guaranteed to be the purest and best available.
Andrew Leitch was Provost of Newport from 1896 until 1899. He was only the second Provost, the first having been Alexander Scott. Andrew's oldest son Robert T Leitch would follow in his father's footsteps, becoming Provost from 1911 until 1914. Andrew Leitch was a shareholder in the Tayside Electric Company, so there's every likelihood that the metal sun signs at the peaks of the roof (see hospital picture) were an advertisement for the company's electricity supply.
Arthur Latto of Balmerino settled in Newport around 1840, and in the late 1850s his son David became the first Latto joiner in the village. From the late 1860s David lived at Carseview (now 20 Tay Street) and in these early days had premises in the High Street. Among other work undertaken at this busy time in Newport's development, David assisted in the erection of Westwood, now St Serf's care home. By the 1880s his premises were in Union Street and he had extended his services to glazier and undertaker. David had two sons, James and John, who followed him into the business. James had no children, but John's son Herbert followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, and he in turn was followed by his son Michael. Although they no longer occupy the Union Street premises, Michael, now retired, has been proud to be the fourth generation of Latto joiners in the village, and the name is still well known.
Another very familiar reminder today of Mrs Blyth Martin is the drinking fountain on the Braes. She gifted this to the village in 1882. At that time there was a widespread movement to provide clean drinking water whenever and wherever possible. It was also hoped that such provision would encourage habits of temperance. It's interesting to consider whether or not Mrs Blyth Martin held such views. Since the fountain's extensive refurbishment in 2013 it is now well worth a close inspection. It is decorated with herons and stags, and inscribed with the reminder to "Keep the pavement dry". A further plaque states "The gift of Mrs Blyth Martin 1882".
Blyth Hall and Blyth Fountain
Mrs Blyth Martin's name is well known in Newport, thanks to her generosity in donating the Blyth Hall to the village. Isabella Blyth came from a fairly prominent Dundee family. Isabella was married first in 1866 at the age of 48 to William Kerr. William Kerr owned a house on Tay Street (now 72 Tay Street) and his name was later given to Kerr Street to the rear. When Isabella (Blyth) moved there, the house became known as Blyth House. Following his death in 1877, Isabella remarried in 1878, this time to William Martin. The couple took the name Blyth Martin and they continued to live at Blyth House, which Isabella had inherited from her first husband.
Isabella had lost three of her brothers, Henry, Thomas and Charles Blyth, and her desire for them to be remembered led to her decision to bestow a public hall upon the village in their name. The Blyth Hall was opened in 1877. The following year Isabella's new husband William gifted the flagpole at the front of the hall.
This shop was then taken over by David Kerr. After the Doig family business ended, David Kerr took over the Robertson Place shop and for some time into the 1960s supervised both the shop there as well as the one at the pier. By the mid 1960s, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall for the pierhead shops resulting from the building of the road bridge, he vacated the pier shop to concentrate solely on the one in Robertson Place.
Doctor John Stewart, a native of Channelkirk in Berwickshire, duly arrived, and this house Lovaine was built for him. The surgery was held in Lovaine Villa for over 100 years. By the late 1890s Doctor John was being helped by his sons Dr Fred and Dr Thomas Stewart. The latter was affectionately referred to as ‘Docy Thom', and he eventually took over the practice on his father's death in 1908. Docy Thom also lived at Lovaine. Dr John Stewart was the owner of the first motor car in Newport.
Job Titles:
- Technical Instructor William Bowman
A different form of loyalty was shown by William Bowman. Orphaned by the death of his father in 1900, he came to the Mars aged 11. He stayed for four years, but returned in 1910 to become a technical instructor under the leadership of technical master Richard Burns.
Just outside the village, on the St Andrews road, was the Forgan smiddy. Originally the smiddy for the St Fort estate it sometimes bore that name. From the 1840s until the 1870s the smiddy was worked by father and son David and John Murdoch, and then until 1926 by Thomas Fearn. In 1926 it was taken over by Kenneth Cunningham who was joined in the 1940s by his son Ken. Ken later developed the business into a successful motor engineering operation.
Not exactly a shop, but there's no doubt the gasworks were a very obvious presence on the High Street with the tall chimney towering overhead. The gasworks were just over the wall from the High Street, between the granary and the old pier. The gasworks were established here in 1856 and soon coal gas was replacing oil and candles in most of the houses in the village. Fire damaged part of the gasworks in 1903, and they were replaced by new ones just outside the village on the Tayport road: these were administered by the new town council. Meanwhile the site of the old gasworks became the burgh yard until local government re-organisation in 1975, and is now the site of the Granary Lane housing development.
When David Kerr retired in 1983 Ian Waugh then occupied the Robertson Place shop until 2004. When the chemist shop eventually in 2006 moved up to its new location beside the surgery, over one hundred years of a chemist presence in Robertson Place had come to an end.
John T Young was one of Newport's best-known business-men. He was the son of William Young who for many years at the turn of the twentieth century was the tenant of the Seamills smiddy at the pier-head. By 1896 John had established a successful cycle repair business on the High Road.
invited to perform at many functions both locally and further afield. Any performance was usually followed by a splendid tea party for the boys. Members of the pipe band and the choir also enjoyed this privilege, and provided an added incentive to play or sing to the best of their ability. Occasionally some of the boys were invited to be beaters at game shoots on local estates: again these positions were much sought after as they would share in the hearty picnics provided.
Mrs Blyth Martin was a member of St Fillan's Free Church and her generosity was felt there too. In 1897 an organ was installed there, her gift to the church.
The following year she died aged 82. Isabella Blyth Martin was a woman apparently of great wealth, but also of great generosity.
Provost J T Young's House in Linden Avenue with Lamps
Until the 1880s there was also the Tayfield Smiddy which stood at the junction of Victoria Street and Cupar Road, where Darvel Lodge now stands. The last blacksmiths at the Tayfield smiddy before it closed were William Lowden and his son William.
For over one hundred years four chemists served the pharmaceutical needs of the village, one of them, William Doig, operating for some 60 years. His chemist shop fronts appeared on many old photographs. William Doig came from Dundee in 1876 and opened his chemist shop at No 1 High Street. By 1890 his two sons had joined him in the business. In the early 1900s they moved over the road to their Robertson Place (Cupar Road) shop (in 2020 the optician) and William Doig and Sons operated there until the 1950s. At the turn of the century they also had a shop in Dundee.