Timeline of the Life of Percy Gutteridge

Rev. P.H.P. (“Percy”) Gutteridge

Percy Gutteridge was born in Edmonton, London on 26th September, 1909, the third of four sons. He attended Latimer Upper School in London, and then worked for the Epworth Press (the Methodist publishing house) in Clerkenwell, London. In 1935 he married Ruth Teagle; subsequently his brother Stanley married Ruth’s sister, Mary.

Percy’s eldest son, John, was born in Edmonton in 1936. Percy and Ruth moved to Epping Way in Chingford, Essex in 1937, and their second son, Peter, was born there in 1938. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Percy enrolled as a conscientious objector and became a fire watcher in London. Meanwhile, his wife and children were evacuated to relatives, first in Cherry Hinton near Cambridge, and then at Ampthill in Bedfordshire. Their daughter Ruth was born in 1942. On the ending of the war in 1945, the family were reunited briefly at their home in Chingford.

Percy resigned from his post at the Epworth Press to become a full-time minister with Calvary Holiness Church in Colne, Lancashire. In the spring of 1947 Percy joined the International Holiness Mission as a minister, and the family moved from Colne to Bradford, Yorkshire, where Elizabeth was born on Christmas Day 1947. A year later Percy was appointed by the International Holiness Mission to their church in Brunswick Street, Manchester. The church building seated over 600 people. The fine, two-manual organ was in need of restoration, so Percy arranged for the organ builder, Fred Leach, to do the work assisted by members of the congregation to keep down the cost. The church was regularly packed for conventions, with many visiting ministers and soloists to professional standards. The family lived in Stockport until the manse in Victoria Park was available. Daughter Hilary was born there in 1949. The following year Percy left the International Holiness Mission to start an independent evangelical church at Gorton in Manchester. The family moved to 87, Ladybarn Lane, Fallowfield where Andrew was born in 1952.

In 1967 Percy joined the staff of The International Society for the Evangelization of the Jews at their Vancouver branch. He and Ruth sailed with their two youngest children on the Queen Mary, and then crossed Canada by rail, a very long journey. The next move was to Desert Hot Springs in California, and then back to British Columbia to Clearbrook in the Fraser Valley.

Ruth died while on holiday in England in August 1986. Percy returned to Canada, living with his son Andrew. Towards the end of his life he returned to England, living first with his son Peter, and then with his daughter Ruth, both in Devon. He died in October 1998. His funeral, like that of his wife, was held in St. Peter’s Church, Fairfield, Buxton, Derbyshire, and they are both buried in the churchyard there.