Born at Thorpe, near Northampton c.1825.
1656, Private Edwin Gutteridge, 11th Hussars, was his brother.
Enlisted at London on the 21st of January 1847.
Age: 22.
Height: 5' 8".
Trade: Draper.
From Private to Corporal: 29th of April 1853.
1851 Census
Cavalry Barracks, Pockthorpe, Norwich.
GG Guttridge, soldier, unmarried, 26, Private, born Northampton. [CP]
Corporal to Sergeant: 9th of July 1854, while at the Newbridge Depot.
Sent from Newbridge to join the regiment in the Crimea on the 29th of July 1854.
Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 14th of December 1854.
Reduced to Sergeant (no reason shown, but possibly due to the reduction of the regiment) on the 18th of October 1856.
Transferred in that rank to the 17th Lancers at Hounslow on the 1st of September 1857. Regimental No. 132.
Embarked for India from Cork aboard the S.S. "Great Britain" on the 8th of October 1857.
"In confinement", 8th — 15th of September 1859. Tried and reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 15th of September, but restored to the rank of Sergeant on the following day, 16th of September 1859.
Died at Secunderabad, India, on the 17th of September 1860.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Can find no trace on the Mutiny medal roll.
The rolls for July-September 1858 show no actual service movement for him so he probably remained at Kirkee.
The muster roll states:
"Crimean medal, with four clasps, Turkish medal and the Legion of Honour sent to his next of kin, Mother, Eliza Gutteridge, living in Pentonville, London. His brother, Edwin, and sisters Ellen, Caroline and Susan are also shown."
Died at Secunderabad, India, on the 17th of September 1860.
The India Office records show him as dying of "acute diarrhoea" at Secunderbad on the 17th of September 1860, aged 34 years 3 months. He was buried on the 18th of September by the Revd. J.D. Ostrehaus, Joint Chaplain.
George Loy Smith mentions him several times in his "Memoirs", published in 1987 under the title of A Victorian R.S.M.:
"Sunday 12th November 1854: Sergeant Gutteridge has been sent to Balaclava with the mule cart and a party to get our valises from on board ship, many of the men not having a shirt to their backs and some being almost without boots. My own boots being completely worn out, I gave Sergeant Gutteridge sufficient money, telling him not mind the price, but to bring me a pair if he could possibly get them. Long after dark we were sitting waiting anxiously for Gutteridge, when at last to our delight (much of this was due to the dozen bottles of beer that he had brought back for the other three occupants of the tent, including Gutteridge) he opened the tent door. The first thing, he handed me a pair of boots, and such boots that I became the envy of everyone who saw them...
My boots now became a great attraction, the Colonel being one of the first to remark on the boots, saying, 'Where did you get those boots, Sergeant-major?' I replied, 'Sergeant Gutteridge bought them in Balaclava yesterday, Colonel.' 'Send for Sergeant Gutteridge.' On being interrogated by the Colonel, he said he met with a man in Balaclava who offered them for sale, but he did not know the man and did not see any other boots for sale... But little did I know at the time to who they had once belonged, for it was not until the following summer that I was accidentally looking inside, when I discovered the name of the officer that had the forethought to provide himself with such boots before leaving home. (He was the only officer of cavalry that was killed at Inkerman: Cornet Clevland, 17th Lancers.)
Tuesday, 25th December 1855: Sergeant-Major Gutteridge (the Armourer Sergeant) and I, dined together today in my hut. We had an excellent dinner, goose, ashed [sic — hashed?] mutton and a plum-pudding made by the Armourer-Sergeant's wife in Birmingham."
(The former must have been "acting" in this position at the time as 1492 Charles Robinson (the regimental armourer-sergeant) was employed at Balaclava around this time.)
Census information for 1851 kindly provided by Chris Poole.