He was one of four children of Robert Guppy, a lawyer and the Mayor of San Fernando, and Amelia Elizabeth Guppy, a painter and one of the pioneers of photography, who navigated the Orinoco River accompanied by only a few native Indians.
Foi un dos catro fillos de Robert Guppy, un avogado e alcalde de San Fernando (illa de Trinidad), e de Amelia Parkinson, unha pintora e unha das pioneiras da fotografía, que navegou polo río Orinoco acompañada por uns poucos indios nativos.