A PHILANTHROPIST who gave away every penny of his personal fortune before he died is being honoured by having the first new public park in the Scottish capital created since the millennium named after his famous farm and ­poultry business.

Andrew Ewing's original Buttercup Dairy Company was the biggest in Britain in the first half of the 20th century. Its founder was renowned for slipping food packages to customers during the Depression.

Buttercup Farm Park is being created on the site of the former Drum Brae Primary School, which was next to the farm.

A religious as well as generous man, Mr Ewing (1869-1956) would not charge for any eggs laid at his farm on a Sunday, so more than 100,000 were donated to hospitals every week.

At its peak in 1930, Mr Ewing's Buttercup Dairy Company was one of the largest poultry farms in the world. It had 250 shops all over Scotland and the north of England.

Work is already under way on the new park, which is due for completion next year.