Abram Lyle was born in Greenock in 1820 he is attribuated for founding Abram Lyle & suger refiners The company merged with Tate& Lyle in 1921.

At twelve years of age he became an apprentice in a lawyers office. He then joined his fathers cooperage business and with a friend , John Kerr the business became won of the biggest in Greenock.

He was heavily involved in the suger business in  the West Indies transporting suger. In 1865 along with his four partners he bought the Glebe Suger refinery to his other business intrest.

John Kerr died in 1872, Lyle sold his shares and searched for a new site for a new refinery. Lyle was Provost of Greenock  from 1876 to 1879. With his three sons purchesed two wharves in Plaistow in East London in 1881.

Sugar refineries belonging to Tate& Lyle continued as a major industry in Greenock until the late 1980s, The last refinery closed in 1997.