Lance Corporal Frederick Edmund Guntrip
The background of this man is not certain. On the balance of probabilities, however, he was the Frederick Guntrip born in Poole, Dorset, on 10 August 1895, one of at least four siblings. By 1901 he and his brother Arthur were living at Stoke Goldington, Buckinghamshire, with their uncle, bootmaker Thomas Edmunds and his wife Elizabeth. Ten years later he was living at 36 Chester Square, Belgravia, London, working as a servant (hall boy) in the home of Margaret Jane Goodlake. A year later he emigrated to the United States, sailing for New York on 2 March.
Following the outbreak of war Guntrip returned to England, and on 29 May 1915 enlisted in the Dragoons of the Line (No.21247). Posted to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, Guntrip embarked for France in 1916 or the first half of 1917, probably at the end of June 1916, having been posted to the headquarters establishment of the 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment following the formation of that regiment in France from C and F Squadrons and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron. The headquarters, formed in England and comprising 40 officers and men, joined the new regiment in France at the beginning of July.
The 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment served as corps cavalry to X Corps until August-September 1917, when the regiment was disbanded and its men were transferred to the Royal Irish Fusiliers, an infantry regiment. Guntrip was one of 70 men given the job of conducting the regiment's horses to Egypt, to be handed over for use by mounted units there. They embarked from Marseilles on board HMT Bohemian on 25 August. After a month at Alexandria they returned to France, via Italy. On 5 October 1917 they arrived at the 36th (Ulster) Division Infantry Base Depot at Harfleur for infantry training, and after just a few days were posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers – which had been renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion – joining it in the field at Ruyaulcourt on 12 October. Guntrip was issued regimental number 41619.
He probably saw action with the battalion at the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917, and perhaps also during the retreat from St Quentin and the fighting on the Ypres front in March and April 1918.
Guntrip was wounded during the Advance to Victory offensive in the second half of 1918, probably in September or October. Evacuated to the UK for treatment, on 14 April 1919 he was discharged, being 'no longer physically fit for war service' (paragraph 392 (xvi), King's Regulations).