George Guthrie was a surgeon who specialised in the treatment of gunshot wounds. In 1801, aged 15, he passed the examination for membership of the Royal College of Surgeons and two years later was sent to Canada to serve as assistant surgeon to the 29^th Regiment. In 1808, he was sent to the Iberian peninsula, where he treated those wounded during the Peninsular War.

Returning to Britain in 1814, he published a treatise on gunshot wounds. It offered advice on their treatment on the battlefield and advocated that amputation, if necessary, be done as soon as possible. This enlarged third edition was published in 1827.