Michael Gutteridge (1842–1935) was an English Methodist and businessman who founded a successful drapery business in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, and the

Wesley House Wesley House was founded as a Methodist theological college in Jesus Lane, Cambridge, England. It opened in 1921 as a place for the education of Methodist ministers and today serves as a gateway to theological scholarship for students and sch ...

seminary in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England. The Italian fashion brand Gutteridge still exists, using the strapline "''dal 1878''" ("since 1878") as part of its image.

Personal life

Gutteridge was born in

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 17,193. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1974 until 2023, ...

, Yorkshire. He married Ada Cooke (died 1921), daughter of Samuel Cooke, a carpet mill owner from Liversedge, Yorkshire. Their son Harold Cooke Gutteridge (1876–1953) was a notable jurist. Gutteridge died on 26 May 1935.

Business life

Gutteridge's first shop was in Piazza Dante, where he sold cotton and woollen textiles; his father-in-law was a major Yorkshire based textile manufacturer. When the store opened he made the financially difficult decision not to trade on Sundays as other local businesses did, and "the sensation that he caused by so doing seemed to earn him admiration, goodwill and success". It has been stated by the Gutteridge company that

Matilde Serao image:Picture of Matilde Serao.jpg, Matilde Serao, by "Rossi" Matilde Serao (; ; 14 March 1856 – 25 July 1927) was an Italian journalist and novelist. She was the first woman called to edit an Italian newspaper, Il ''Corriere di Roma'' and late ...

's 1901 novel ''The Ballerina'' has a shop assistant at Gutteridge's as the central character; another source states that Gutteridge himself appears in the novel as "the Englishman" described as "''il justo''", "the just man".

Possible Scottish heritage

The website of the Gutteridge company describes Gutteridge as Scottish (''fondato ... dallo scozzese Michael Gutteridge'') and asserts that his father-in-law was the principal textile producer in Scotland (''con il supporto del suocero allora principale produttore tessile in Scozia''), but other sources agree that he was born in Selby and that his father-in-law was Samuel Cooke of Liversedge, Yorkshire.

Notes

External links

* ''Obituary of Michael Rae, grandson of Gutteridge's cousin of the same name who became the Gutteridge company's manager, with history of the company and images of historic advertisements'' 1842 births 1935 deaths British businesspeople Italian businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-1840s-stub