He was born at Ashton-under-Lyne on 12 April 1842, the son of Peter Dean Blythe and his wife Elizabeth.
His grandfather, James Blythe, was a notable Scotch schoolmaster at the village of Limekilns, about fifteen miles from Edinburgh.
After a brief stay at the Ryecroft British school, Blythe worked in a factory; then obtained a post on a local paper as reporter, and afterwards entered a firm in Manchester, in whose employment he remained until his death.
He attended, as a teacher, the Sunday school of the Methodist New Connexion, in Stamford Street, Manchester, during the greater portion of his life.
He left behind him a considerable amount of manuscript, and a small memorial volume was issued, entitled A Sketch of the Life (by Joseph Williamson) and a Selection from the Writings of John Dean Blythe, Manchester, 1870.