and Mary Buddle, a "free woman of colour". He was baptised at Mesopotamia in Westmoreland Parish on 11 April 1816 by Edmund Pope, rector of Westmorland, and described as a "free child of colour". He had brothers Charles (1817) and Henry (c.1831).

Blyth's parents are not thought to have been married, however, his father left his assets to Mary Buddle in his will and his father obtained the money to