 As a Huguenot, and the son of a Royalist Colonel of the Swiss Guard who served with the British Army too, he was admitted to the elitist school of the Reverend John Strachan in Cornwall, Upper Canada.He was the brother-in-law of Judge Samuel Wentworth Monk, nephew of Sir James Monk, Chief Justice of Lower Canada.On the outbreak of the War of 1812, Gugy joined the Canadian Fencibles, becoming a lieutenant.