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Early life

Blythe was born on 30 May 1879 in Deptford, London. His paternal grandfather, originally from Rochester, moved to Deptford to work as a shirtmaker and later ran a warehouse there; Blythe's father, Walter, was an engineer fitter. His mother, Elizabeth Dready, was the daughter of a cooper, and her family lived in Deptford for generations. Blythe's parents married in 1878 when his mother was four months pregnant, and the ceremony took place in Kensington rather than Deptford, where they returned to live in early 1879. At the time, Deptford was an area of some poverty; the closure of its dockyard adversely affected the area's economy and a parliamentary enquiry in 1887 targeted it as one of London's most deprived regions, identifying an unemployment rate of 32 per cent. Blythe was the first of thirteen children—seven sons and six daughters—born to the couple over the following 23 years. The family moved several times to accommodate their growing numbers. Blythe attended Duke Street Infants school until the age of seven, when he moved to Alverton Street School, where he remained until he left at the age of 13. The growing size of his family probably prompted him to leave school at the earliest age possible and he became an apprentice engineer fitter at the Woolwich Arsenal. Blythe decided to study for a Whitworth scholarship but the pressure proved too much for his health; a doctor recommended that fresh air would aid his recuperation.

Until then, Blythe had shown little interest in cricket and had played few, if any, organised games. He may have played cricket and football in clubs around Blackheath, and possibly appeared as a schoolboy for a local cricket team, but he did not bowl seriously before the age of 11 at the earliest. There is no evidence that he watched cricket either, particularly when he was studying as an engineer. On Saturday 17 July 1897, Blythe attended the third and final day of a cricket match between Kent and Somerset at the Rectory Field, Blackheath. Blythe was not working that day, and when he arrived there were very few spectators. One of the Kent team, Walter Wright, came to bat in the nets and asked Blythe, as one of the few present, to bowl to him to give him some practice before play began. Blythe did so—some later stories suggested that this was the first time Blythe ever bowled a ball—and was seen by William McCanlis, a former Kent cricketer who acted as coach and advisor to the team. Impressed by Blythe's bowling, McCanlis arranged for him to bowl to him on another day.

Shortly after, Blythe bowled to McCanlis at the latter's local cricket club and impressed him sufficiently that McCanlis recommended Blythe be given a trial at the Tonbridge "nursery" where promising young professional cricketers were trained with a view to joining the Kent team. Blythe was successful in the trial and was signed for the nursery to train during the autumn of 1897 and to play in the 1898 season. The coaches recorded the verdict: "Bowls slow left. Very useful bowler." Blythe remained at the family home in Deptford, and continued his engineering job, in the winter of 1897–98 but rented lodgings in Tonbridge for the 1898 season.

Kent cricketer

At the nursery

Blythe spent 1898 at the Tonbridge nursery. The regime for the young professionals consisted of batting, bowling and fielding practice each morning; in the afternoon, the professionals practised further early in the season, but in later months bowled for the rest of the day at club members who requested it. The players also played frequent games for the Tonbridge club or for other local clubs who took part in a scheme whereby the nursery loaned out the professionals. Christopher Scoble, a biographer of Blythe, believes that the constant practice, and Blythe's determination to learn from the coaches, laid the foundations for his later success, particularly the renowned accuracy of his bowling and his ability to spin and flight the ball.

Blythe made a good impression on those who saw him at the nursery and his cricket improved with experience. By 1899, he was playing regularly for local clubs; he was in such demand that he bowled over 600 overs and took 105 wickets, comfortably ahead of the other nursery bowlers. He also had a respectable batting record. He also played for the Kent Second XI. Later in the season, he was called into the Kent first team—four of the six nursery cricketers that season were chosen to play for Kent. Blythe made his first-class debut against Yorkshire on 21 August 1899 at Tonbridge. Kent, enduring a poor season and whose bowlers had not performed effectively, began well and took early wickets. Yorkshire began to recover and Blythe was given the ball for the first time with the score 86 for the loss of four wickets (86 for four); with his first delivery in first-class cricket, he bowled Frank Mitchell, who had scored 55. He was less successful in the remainder of the innings, conceding 25 runs from his four overs, but restricted the Yorkshire scoring and took the final wicket of the innings. Kent won the match, effectively ending Yorkshire's chance to be county champions. Blythe played the remaining three games of the season, taking a further 12 wickets to finish with 14 at an average of 22.14. HIs best performance came against Surrey, when he took six wickets; Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in its review of the 1899 Kent season, described him as a "new and promising" bowler.

First-team regular

Blythe began the 1900 season well; in his second game, he had first innings figures of five for 71 (five wickets while conceding 71 runs) against Gloucestershire, the first time he took five wickets in an innings. Further five-wicket returns followed against Middlesex and Yorkshire, and by early August he had taken 56 wickets in 14 games at an average of just over 22. In the first match of Canterbury Cricket Week, when Kent played Lancashire, Blythe took eleven for 72 in helpful bowling conditions, including six for 40 in the first innings. Although the match was drawn, the crowd cheered Blythe and held a collection for him in appreciation of his performance; both the local and national press also praised his bowling in the game. The rest of the season brought a string of successes to Blythe—he took six for 73 against Surrey in the second game of Canterbury Week, and a further five five-wicket returns, including twelve wickets in the game against Worcestershire; in the last eight games, he took 58 wickets at an average of 14.50. Kent ended the season in third place, their best position for ten years, and Blythe headed the Kent bowling averages with 114 wickets at 18.47.

Blythe benefited from Kent's recently instituted winter pay for their professionals; the scheme had begun in 1897, following a similar model to that begun in Yorkshire, but the 20 shillings-a-week payment was not enough to live on and required Blythe to return to work at the Woolwich Arsenal. He returned to live in his family's home for the winter months. For part of the winter, he was ill; Kent were concerned enough that as well as requiring him to return to Canterbury for training in March, he also had to spend two weeks recovering by the sea, and be seen by a doctor. Although it is uncertain what the nature of the illness was, Scoble speculates that it may have been the beginning of the epilepsy with which he later suffered, or that he was affected by the attention brought about by his successful first full season.

The weather during the 1901 season was very good, producing a succession of dry, hard pitches which made batting easy. In these conditions, Blythe was less effective and took fewer wickets at a higher average: in first-class cricket he secured 93 wickets at 23.12. When conditions favoured his bowling, he had some success, for example taking seven for 64 against Surrey, and even on good batting pitches made it difficult for batsmen to score quickly and he generally conceded few runs. He remained a nominal member of the Tonbridge Nursery, and played a few matches there in 1901.

Test match debut

The good impression that Blythe had made during his first two seasons led to his selection for a tour of Australia organised by Archie MacLaren during the 1901–02 season. The leading bowlers, Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst, were not released for the tour by Yorkshire so MacLaren chose Blythe and several other promising cricketers. Kent allowed Blythe to join the tour but withheld his winter pay. Scoble suggests that he enjoyed the tour, which "was an opening of new horizons" after his Deptford upbringing, and that he "took part fully in the social aspects of the tour". In his first game of the tour, he took five for 45 against South Australia, and when he made his Test debut on 13 December 1901, he took three for 26 in the first innings and four for 30 in the second. After his performance, in the only England Test win of the tour, Blythe was presented with a gold pocket watch engraved with his bowling figures. But after taking four for 64 in the first innings of the second Test, his performances fell away and he took only six wickets in the last three Tests. He generally conceded few runs but the pitches did not favour his bowling style, and an injury to his spinning finger handicapped him and reduced his ability to take wickets. In all first-class matches on the tour, he took 34 wickets at 20.91, while in the five Tests, he took 18 wickets at 26.11. Wisden suggested that Blythe worked hard, albeit in a weak bowling attack, but a later article judged that "it cannot be said that he proved more than a qualified success". His health benefitted from the tour, and he returned physically stronger than before.

No longer required to train before the season at the Tonbridge Nursery, Blythe was very successful in the 1902 season, when he was assisted by a wet summer which led to a series of damp, rain-affected pitches. He took 127 wickets at 15.47, including his best figures so far, eight for 42 against Somerset, and finished second in the Kent bowling averages.

Leading cricketer

Growing fame

He is a slow bowler of varied gifts, and though ... seen to much the best advantage on wickets damaged by rain, he is often effective on a dry pitch. When the ground is favourable to run getting he depends a good deal upon the ball that goes with his arm ... On slow wickets he breaks back very quickly, and is in Ranjitsinhji's opinion more difficult to play than Rhodes, the lower flight of the ball making it a hard matter to go out and drive him.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1904

The season of 1903 was extremely wet, which aided Blythe's bowling. He took 142 first-class wickets at an average of 13.75, his best return in terms of wickets and average so far. Kent began the season badly and only rallied in August, when Blythe took over 70 wickets. Beginning with nine for 67 in an innings against Essex in Canterbury week at the start of August, Blythe had a string of successful performances, including a spell in which he took 25 wickets in four innings spread across four days. Kent finished eighth in the Championship, and Wisden chose Blythe as one of the Cricketers of the Year for the 1903 season.

A drier summer in 1904 resulted in fewer wickets which favoured Blythe's bowling, and his 138 wickets came at the higher average of 19.60, but he showed that he could perform on harder pitches and slow the run-scoring of batsmen when necessary. His wickets came steadily, but his best performance came against Hampshire, when he took fifteen for 76 in a single day's play, including nine for 30 in the first innings. He also began to show some potential as a batsman, possibly owing to the good batting pitches that season. Against Nottinghamshire, he scored 82 not out, sharing a partnership of 106 for the ninth wicket with Bill Fairservice; Kent followed on and Blythe opened the batting, but was dismissed for four runs. He scored 42 not out batting at number four against Yorkshire, and against Somerset he scored 70 in an hour out of a last-wicket partnership of 98 with Fairservice. In total, he scored 400 first-class runs, improving by nearly 150 runs on his previous best, and his average reached 15.38, the only time he averaged more than 15 in an English season. More than one critic claimed that Blythe could have become a good batsman had he so wished, but he never batted as consistently again, and preferred hard-hitting in the lower order to serious batting. For his achievements in 1904, he was named as a cricketer of the year in Cricket magazine.

During the 1905 season, Blythe took 149 wickets at 21.08 as Kent finished sixth. He had another success with the bat, scoring 75 and sharing a ninth wicket partnership of 120 with Fairservice, and had several successful games with the ball. That season, the Australian cricket team toured England, playing five Test matches. Wilfred Rhodes, the incumbent England left-arm spinner, missed the third Test with a finger injury, and Blythe replaced him to make his only Test appearance of the season. Wisden commented that he "got on admirably" and "bowled uncommonly well", as he took three second innings wickets on his first appearance in a home Test match.

Second overseas tour and County Champions

Blythe was selected by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to tour South Africa in the 1905–06 season. The English team was not particularly strong, and before the tour, critics considered the team to be the equivalent ability of a moderate county side. In contrast to his previous tour, Blythe requested that Kent continue his winter pay, suggesting that he would not go otherwise. The Kent committee only agreed after a majority vote, although the influential committee chairman Lord Harris supported Blythe. In South Africa, Blythe was successful, taking over 100 wickets in all games, including 57 in first-class matches, and thrived on the matting pitches used at the time in the country. He was one of the few English bowling successes in the Test matches, in which he took 21 wickets at 26.09. South Africa won the series 4–1. In the only Test won by England, Blythe took eleven for 118, including his first five-wicket returns in Test matches: six for 68 and five for 50.

In 1906, Kent won the County Championship for the first time in their history and the only time in Blythe's career. Blythe took 111 first-class wickets at 19.90 in the season, but was hampered by injury which prevented him reaching 100 wickets in the Championship for the first time since 1901 and the last time in his career. Against Sussex, he split the second finger of his bowling hand and missed three games; attempting to return too soon, he split the finger again and missed four more matches. During the time he was not playing, he received half-pay, and his place was taken by a 19-year-old, Frank Woolley who went on to have a long career with Kent. The county won just three of the seven matches missed by Blythe, but he returned for the final 12 games of the season, all of which Kent won, and took 82 wickets. He was particularly successful in the crucial final games as Kent crept ahead in a very close finish. Once they won, the team were widely acclaimed, particularly within Kent, and the committee chose to award the professionals a bonus of £10. In commemoration of Kent's County Championship win, at the suggestion of Lord Harris, the Kent Committee commissioned a painting by Albert Chevallier Tayler of one of the season's matches; the main conditions were that it should be set on St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, and should include Blythe as the bowler; the painting, Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury, became well-known and has been hung in the pavilions at Canterbury and at Lord's Cricket Ground.

Success in 1907

Until 1907, Blythe, when not on a tour, spent his off-season working at the Woolwich Arsenal and living with his parents. On 11 March 1907, he married Janet Brown; she was from Tunbridge Wells, the daughter of a painter, and ten years younger than Blythe. The couple were married at Greenwich and moved into a house in Tonbridge. Little is known about their relationship but the Blythe family remembered her warmly for many years and she remained close to them after her husband's death. They had no children. Scoble observes that Blythe's problems with nervous exhaustion and epilepsy began in the cricket season immediately following his marriage, and speculates that the root cause may have been from his changed domestic circumstances.

Kent only managed eighth in the County Championship owing to failures among the batsmen, but Blythe had considerable personal success. He took 141 wickets for Kent. His best performance came early in the season against Northamptonshire; that county only joined the County Championship in 1905 and played some of the traditionally stronger counties, including Kent, for the first time in 1907. Kent defeated Northamptonshire during their first meeting and the teams met again two weeks later at the County Ground, Northampton. Rain interfered with the first day's play, after which Kent had scored 212 for four wickets, and prevented any cricket on the second. When the third and final day began, Kent hit out to take their score to 254. The pitch had been affected by rain and favoured Blythe's bowling; when Northamptonshire batted he took all ten wickets. His final figures were ten for 30 from 16 overs, and may have been better had he not dropped a catch off his own bowling when he had taken eight wickets while conceding only two runs; the later batsmen scored relatively easily from his bowling to bring about a partial recovery. Northamptonshire followed on, by which time the pitch was even more difficult for batsmen. Blythe had a catch dropped from his bowling before any wickets had fallen, but took wickets steadily to finish with seven for 18. In a single day's play, he had taken seventeen wickets for 48 runs. Taking seventeen wickets in a first-class match was, and remains, a rare occurrence. As of 2014, only two other bowlers have taken seventeen wickets in a single day—Hedley Verity in 1933 and Tom Goddard in 1939—and Blythe's figures are the best in the history of the County Championship. The feat was praised in the contemporary press, and mystique built up around it in later years—possibly owing to Blythe's early death, or the nostalgia which surrounds this era of cricket—including stories that only his dropped catch prevented him taking all twenty wickets in the game. Blythe missed the next two games with a chill; Scoble suggests that this may have been caused by fielding in wet conditions, but may have been exacerbated by the mental strain of his bowling performance.

Blythe played in all three Test matches for England against South Africa in 1907. Usually, Rhodes took the spinner's place in the England team, but his loss of bowling form around this time meant that Blythe was preferred. He took four wickets in the drawn first test, hampered by an injury to his hand after he dropped a catch. In the days before the next game, Blythe took 23 wickets in two matches. England won the second Test, played at Headingley in wet, unsettled weather. The pitch was badly affected by rain and as the only spinner in the England team, Blythe was the only bowler capable of taking advantage of the conditions. England scored 76 in their first innings; when South Africa batted, Blythe took eight for 59, his best Test figures. His bowling was not always accurate but he made the ball turn sharply from the damp pitch. South Africa scored 110 and England replied with 162 to leave South Africa needing 129 to win in difficult batting conditions. Blythe took seven for 40 to bowl South Africa out for 75. He ended the match with figures of 15 for 99, at the time, the best figures in a Test match in England. Contemporary press reports suggested that he had "bowled himself to a standstill"; it is possible that he suffered an epileptic fit during or after the game. His performances in his next few games were less effective, and he missed one match; Scoble believes that the cause was mental strain.

In the third and final Test against South Africa, Blythe bowled poorly at first, but on the final morning bowled a spell of four wickets for 14 to end the South African second innings and complete figures of five for 61. He ended the season with a total of 26 Test wickets at an average of 10.38, and 183 first-class wickets at 15.42.

Second tour of Australia

Blythe was chosen to tour Australia with an MCC team, this time with Rhodes also in the team. Although Blythe had an early success when he took eleven for 83 in the game against Queensland, he took few wickets in his remaining matches. Conditions in Australia did not assist his bowling and he suffered from illness and injury at different points in the tour. After he took just one wicket in the first Test, he was left out of the England team for the remaining matches; of the other slow bowlers, Jack Crawford was the team's leading wicket-taker and Rhodes a much better batsman, so they played at Blythe's expense. Scoble suggests the selectors were swayed by Blythe's problems in the 1907 season and speculates that the close finish to the first Test may have affected him further. Blythe took 41 wickets at 22.80 in first-class matches on the tour. Wisden judged: "Blythe was so far below his form at home that he was left out of four of the Test games ... [He] headed the bowling averages but, though successful against weak teams, he did not trouble the good batsmen." Awarded £200 for his efforts on the tour, it is likely that Blythe was unhappy when Kent asked him and his county team-mate in the MCC party, Arthur Fielder, to give the money to them for investment.

Kent were runners-up in the County Championship in 1908; on generally good batting pitches in a dry summer, Blythe was not quite as devastating as the previous season, but he took 167 wickets in the Championship, his best in a season to that point in his career. He took wickets consistently but was hampered by an injured knee; he twisted it in a game against Yorkshire. He missed a few games and was hampered in others. His best figures of eight for 83 were taken in a match against Hampshire where he was noticeably struggling with his mobility; he bowled 90 overs in the game which further aggravated his injury and in a close finish, he failed to reach a catch, which cost Kent the match. In all first-class games, he took 197 wickets at 16.88.

Benefit year and Ashes series

The Kent committee awarded Blythe a benefit match in 1909. In a wet season, Blythe took the highest number of wickets in his career: 178 in the County Championship and 215 in total. In the first county game of the season, Blythe took sixteen for 102 against Leicestershire; 14 of the wickets came on the second day of the match, when he took nine for 42. A week later, he took fourteen for 75 against Northamptonshire, including nine for 44, his second nine-wicket return in a matter of days. Early in the season he continued to take wickets prolifically, but his heavy workload meant that his performances tailed off in the final month of the season. His benefit match was the second game of Canterbury Week, played against Hampshire, and was a financial success. Kent went on to win the County Championship, Blythe taking the wicket which made the outcome a certainty. His benefit eventually yielded £1,519, a considerable amount for the period and well above average; following their usual practice, the Kent Committee invested the money on Blythe's behalf.

Blythe's good start to the season ensured his selection for the 1909 Ashes series; prior to the first Test, he had taken 38 wickets in his previous three games. The match was played on a rain-affected pitch. The Australian team was in poor form in the run-up to the Test, and once the match began, having been delayed by rain, were bowled out for 74 early on the second day. Blythe took six for 44. England scored 121, a lead of 47, and batting until the end of the second day in better batting conditions, Australia scored 67 for two. At the start of the third and final day, Australia scored quite freely and added another 30 runs before Blythe took the next wicket. Wickets then fell quickly; and Blythe finished with five for 58. Jack Hobbs and C. B. Fry then hit off the runs and England won the match by ten wickets. Blythe and George Hirst took all twenty Australian wickets between them—Blythe had eleven for 102—and bowled unchanged throughout the match except for a spell of five overs on the second day. The match report in Wisden stated: "Blythe was full of clever devices." Scoble suggests that the low-scoring nature of the match increased the pressure on Blythe, and that the end result was similar to the match at Headingley two years before.

At the start of his next game, for Kent, Blythe was overcome with emotion when the crowd gave him an ovation for his performance in the Test; when he later came on to bowl, he complained of feeling faint after his first over. He remained on the field and recovered later to take six for 37. In his next match, he began badly and was taken out of the attack for a time before he once again returned successfully to finish with seven wickets. Kent were sufficiently concerned to send him to see a specialist who concluded that the strain of the Test match had affected him, and that he should not play in the second Test. Lord Harris informed the selectors of Blythe's unavailability for that match; playing for Kent on what was the second day of the Test, Blythe had a fit and was taken to the team hotel. Meanwhile, England lost the Test and the selectors were heavily criticised for their decisions and for who was left out of the team. Wisden said: "Never in the history of Test Matches in England has there been such blundering in the selection of an England eleven." To justify themselves, the selectors made public the medical report on Blythe, which stated that he suffered from strain of the nervous system brought about from playing in Test matches. While Blythe's problems of 1907 had been known in private, this made everything public and had a negative effect on his perception by the public and selectors. He returned to the England team for the fourth Test and took five for 63 in the first innings, but was less effective in the second. Critics believed this lessened effectiveness was the result of his nervous strain. The Kent authorities also took no chances and rested him from their next game after the Test to ensure he was fit for his benefit match. Blythe had played just two of the five Tests, taking 18 wickets at 13.44.

Bowling technique

Blythe, as was the common practice for slow bowlers in the period, opened the bowling for Kent with a fast bowler usually operating from the other end. He had a short run up, which Scoble describes as "dancing steps culminating in a little chassée before the long let stride from toe to toe, more like a ballet dancer than a runner". His bowling action was admired by critics for its aesthetic qualities; before delivering the ball, he brought his left arm as far back as he could, almost bringing it under his right arm behind his back, and turned so that his back was partially facing the batsman. He then brought his right arm up and pivoted around to bowl the ball. He varied the flight of the ball greatly, making it difficult for the batsman to judge where the ball was going to pitch. This prevented runs being scored easily and also made Blythe difficult to bat against even on good batting pitches. He was very accurate, pitching a good length and span the ball sharply; he also made the ball pounce after pitching and occasionally made the ball swing through the air. As well as the ball that spun away from the right-handed batsman, Blythe also bowled an arm ball—a ball which did not turn but carried on in the same direction as the bowler's arm—and a faster ball. Able to adapt his bowling to suit the batsman he was facing and the pitch conditions, Blythe could take advantage of any wear or damage to a pitch. Wisden judged: "Bowling, with a very easy action he can, despite the slightness of his physique, get through a good amount of work without tiring." Colleagues and contemporaries recalled Blythe as a generous teammate and opponent who rarely became angry or frustrated on the field but dealt with everything calmly.

Misc.

Scoble suggests that photographs of Blythe reveal humour, determination and, in his dress, a touch of flamboyance.

Blythe was known as Colin by his family, but cricketers throughout England knew him as Charlie; his biographer Scoble suggests that this nickname suited his personality and arose from his "cheerful cockney demeanour and accent". In their family, it was Blythe's younger brother Charles who was "Charlie". Blythe's name confused Wisden, which named him as "Charles Blythe" when he was one of the Cricketers of the Year.

Bibliography

• Down, Michael (1981). Archie: A Biography of A. C. MacLaren. London: George Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-04-796056-6.