Blyth

The ancient barony of Blyth lay in the lordship of Lauderdale where the name is still common. The Blyth valley in Northumberland was an early centre of the salt industry and was controlled by the powerful Norman Delaval family. The Scots name may well have its origin in a Northumbrian knight who settled in the Borders. William de Blyth rendered homage for his lands in Chirnside in 1296. The coat of arms described by Nisbet is believed to be of considerable antiquity, but no recording has ever been made of these arms in the registers at the Lyon Court. Black records that Blyth was also a common name among the Borders gypsies, one Victorian ‘queen of the gypsies’ being Esther Faa Blyth. A dynasty of American actors, which included Lionel and Ethel Barrymore, was founded by Herbert Blythe, son of an East India Company surveyor, who died in 1905.