A Trench View of Air Raids & Reprisals
20th July 1917, page 5 A TRENCH VIEW OF AIR RAIDS AND REPRISALS Sergeant J Gutteridge, of Bromley, was never
Many soldiers wrote home giving details of what life was like on the front line. One such letter writer was Company-Sergeant-Major John Gutteridge, whose letters were published in the Bromley & District Times.
Gutteridge had joined up in September 1914, when he was about 24. He was born about 1890, and listed on the 1911 census as the second son of eight children. He had worked at Messrs Howard’s Store, a fishmongers shop, before the war.
Throughout the war he was shown as a great letter-writer. He was always cheerful and seems to have accepted the hardships and dangers with great fortitude and seems to have enjoyed the challenge of the war. Through the District Times, we can trace his steady rise to, Lance-Corporal, Corporal to Sergeant and Company-Sergeant-Major.
In 1919, it was reported that his father received the D.C.M. awarded to him posthumously. Awarded for gallantry in the field all through his career from the time he enlisted as a private in 1914. He was a man never discouraged, always cheerful and full of great influence on those around him.
NB In 1911 his mother had already given birth to 14 children of which 6 had died. The youngest child was a boy, Cyril aged 4 months.
Copies of his letters are shown below:
20th July 1917, page 5 A TRENCH VIEW OF AIR RAIDS AND REPRISALS Sergeant J Gutteridge, of Bromley, was never
From the beginning of 1917, letters from John Gutteridge rarely appear in the paper. Whether this was because there were
26th January 1918, page 2 STILL CHEERY AND BRIGHT Sergeant Gutteridge, of the West Kents, writes home another of his
20th October 1916, page 3 SERGEANT GUTTERIDGE STILL GOING STRONG ON CHEERFULNESS Look like having another Christmas out here, but
28th August 1916, page 6 Often the Bromley & District Times published short updates on the Gutteridge to inform readers
28th June 1916, page 10 Another letter from Sergeant Gutteridge of Bromley explaining the fun the ‘boy’ had trying to
23rd June 1916, page 10 More tales from the Front Line provided by Sergeant Gutteridge of Bromley: “We had some
5th May 1916, page 5 WHO WILL? Sergeant Gutteridge (long known to our readers as Corporal Gutteridge), of Bromley, and
28th April 1916, pge 2 CORPORAL GUTTERIDGE HAS A NARROW ESCAPE In a recent letter home Corporal Gutteridge relates a
14th April 1916, page 8 I ran across one of the Bromley boys last week, and we had a jolly
10th March, 1916 page 10 CORPORAL GUTTERIDGE’S LETTERS: TRIBUTE TO CAPTAIN ROSS Last week we had two communications from Corporal
3rd March 1916 (page 5) CAPTAIN W URQUHART ROSS – an officer respected by all his men As will be seen
25th February 1916 (page 2) OUR WARMEST TIME Our genial correspondent, Corporal Gutteridge, Royal West Kent Regiment, says:- “Deart Sir,
28th January 1916 COMMENDATIONS FOR WEST KENTS Corporal Gutteridge, of the 8th West Kents, who has recently returned to the
26th January, 1916 p2 The company had a dinner and concert. Sergeant Gutteridge, of the West Kents, writes home another