David Henry Guthrie was born in 1856. He held a long career as a politician of the Reform Party. He was the Minister of Railways (1922-1923), the MP for Oroua (1908-1925), the Minister of the Crown (1918-1925), and a member of the Executive Council (1918-1927). He was also appointed to the Legislative Council in 1925, a position he held until 1927, when he died.
Guthrie was married to a woman named Agnes in 1899. No information regarding their children has been uncovered. Agnes died several years after Guthrie, in 1966.