Walter Wilfrid Blackie (1860–1953) was the grandson of John Blackie (1782–1874), founder in 1809 of the Glasgow publishing house which became Blackie & Son Ltd.
He was born in Glasgow and educated at the Glasgow Academy and in Eberfeld, Germany, before taking a B.Sc. at the University of Glasgow. He joined the family business in 1879, but after a year he went to Canada, where he worked on farms and in lumber camps in Ontario. He followed this with a spell in the New York office of the publishers Appleton, before returning to Glasgow, and Blackie & Son, in 1884.
He 'gave himself largely to the educational side of the firm's activities', educational and children's books being a major part of Blackie & Son's output.
He became chairman on the death of his elder brother, J. Alexander Blackie, in 1918, and retired in 1937. He also served as a governor of the West of Scotland Agricultural College.
Walter Blackie was "a gregarious and sociable man," according to his grand-daughter. He had a wide range of intellectual interests and was a member of various societies and organisations, ranging through science, arts and politics.
Politically he was a Liberal supporter and member of the Fabian Society. He enjoyed sailing and the hills, and holidays were spent in Scotland or touring Europe. Into old age he kept up correspondence with a wide range of family, friends, business and other contacts.
After the Second World War and its aftermath, Walter and Anna Blackie were in their 80s and The Hill House was not really suitable for them. However Walter had no intention of moving from the house he had lived in and loved since 1904. He died there on February 14 1953 at the age of 92.

HILL HOUSE.
Helensburgh, to the west of Glasgow was settled by businessmen whose wealth came from the industrialised city. In 1902, Walter Blackie purchased a plot on which to build a new home. At the suggestion of Talwin Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was appointed to design and build Hill House.
Blackie was surprised at the youthfulness of the architect, but after visiting other houses Mackintosh had designed, was convinced he was the right person to build the house.
Blackie stipulated no bricks and plaster or wood beam construction, and no red-tiled roof, as traditional in the west of Scotland. Instead, Blackie asked for grey rough cast walls, and a slate roof; and that architectural effects ought to be secured by the massing of the parts rather than ornamentation. The requirements and non-traditional taste of the client allowed Mackintosh full rein for his design ideas.
Before creating an elevation drawing or floor plan, Mackintosh spent some time in the Blackies' home to observe their everyday life. By analysing the family's habits Mackintosh could design every aspect of the house according to the needs of each user. He believed functional issues should be solved before allowing the design to evolve.