George Frederick Arthur Blyth

Rank 
Private
Regiment 
Essex Regiment
Date of death 
5 February 1917
Age of death 
38
Address 
2 Oak Villas
Oakdale Road
South Woodford
Woodford
E18 1JX
Address source 
1911 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
France
Biography 

Born in 1878 at Woodford, son of Henry (Mercantile Clerk) and Sarah Catherine Blyth. 1881: Living with his family at Maybank Road, South Woodford. 1891: With his family at Dunedin Villa, Maybank Road, South Woodford.

1901: While Dunedin Villa was still the family home, his father had died and so mother Sarah was head of the household. George had become a Stockbrokers Clerk. 1911: George, still a Stock Exchange Clerk, was living as a boarder with William Kimmings and family at 2 Oak Villas, Oakdale Road, South Woodford, while his family remained at Dunedin Villa. He enlisted at Epping.

On 2nd February 1917, 10 Essex relieved 6 Royal Berkshires in the front line at Desire Trench from 16 Road to Stump Road near Grandcourt in France. It was decided to mount a raid during the night of 4/5th February 1917 along a 300 yard length of enemy Folly trench. The ground was frozen with a slight covering of snow when, at 01.00 on 5th an artillery barrage began. Seven minutes later two groups from 10 Essex moved forward in extended order towards the enemy. The raid was fairly successful, but one of the raiding parties experienced heavy enemy fire from two locations. It is possible George Blyth was killed in this raiding action, but the exact nature of his death is unclear.

In fact, a short advert in the Woodford Times dated 7th March 1917 asks that anybody with a friend or relative fighting in France with 10 Essex since Christmas to communicate with Mrs Blyth who gave her current address as Theydon Garnon. 

X/R:  Second Lieutenant James Reginald Blyth (Brother).

Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Regimental Histories