Monday 12 November 2012

A Blyth Comment (Or, The 1908 India General Service Medal with Afghanistan NWF 1919 clasp)

It's my new favourite thing. A lovely item, and for a number of reasons. Before we start, behold:


The 1909 issue of the India General Service Medal with the Afghanistan NWF (North West Frontier) 1919 clasp. The medal was awarded for the dubious honour of having served on the frontiers of India. In 1919 that meant the North West Frontier, which was India's border with Afghanistan. In 1919 Afghanistan was doing a lot better than it is now, and Britain a lot worse. Having suffered British interference for years, the Afghans took the opportunity of Britain's destitution after the War to launch an invasion. Given the current conflict, the idea of Afghanistan invading the British Empire may seem almost amusing now,  but Charles Blyth, who was the recipient of this medal, would not have been laughing. But we are ahead of ourselves, because we know more about Charles Blyth than is revealed by this medal.
This item was part of a private collection in Denmark. it was bought, perhaps ironically, by a member of the Danish military who had served in Afghanistan. Luckily for us, he did a lot of the research about Charles and his story is fascinating.
Charles Blyth was born in 1884 in Marsham, Norfolk. The son of Joshua Blyth, a farm labourer, Charles enlisted into the militia in 1901 and served in the Royal Field Artillery. He was married in 1905, extended his service and was due for release in 1913. 1913 was not a good time to be finishing one's military career... in 1914 Charles was enlisted in the regular army and served in Northern France and the Middle East. He was invalided to India in 1918. 1918 was not a good time to be re-cuperating in India... Charles, now a Sgt, fought in the third Afghan was and was awarded the medal we see here. That is some epic 'wrong place, wrong time' and coupled with a bout of syphilis in 1905, he may be the unluckiest soldier to have his story told in our museum...