Charles Edward Blyth
Charles Edward Blyth (1873-1938)
1938 Obituary [1]
CHARLES EDWARD BLYTH, M.B.E., was connected for more than twenty-six years with the Egyptian State Railways, of which he ultimately became chief mechanical engineer. He was born at Selhurst, near Croydon, in 1873, and in 1886 he entered the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, Bristol, where he studied mechanical engineering subjects until 1891.
He then entered the Swindon works of the Great Western Railway as a premium apprentice, and served until 1894 when he was made a draughtsman. He attained a leading position in the drawing office, and was responsible for the detail design of a combined six-coupled locomotive and rotating jib crane. In 1906 he left for the Egyptian State Railways, and took charge of the technical staff in the chief mechanical engineer's office at Bulak, Cairo. In 1922 Mr. Blyth was appointed assistant chief mechanical engineer and in 1925 he was made deputy chief mechanical engineer, succeeding to the position of chief mechanical engineer in 1930.
He was responsible for many improvements in Egyptian locomotive design, particularly in the standardization of locomotive types and spare parts. He also introduced a progress system into the workshops which enabled the number of engines stopped for repairs to be reduced. The decoration of the Order of the Nile (Third Class) was conferred upon him by the Egyptian Government in 1923.
In 1933 he retired and lived in Jersey. His death occurred in London in August 1937. He had been a Member of the Institution since 1920.