The son of Sir Richard Sutton, 2nd Baronet and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Burton, he was born in October 1821 at Sudbrooke, Lincolnshire.
[1] He purchased a commission in the British Army in May 1839 as an ensign in the 97th Regiment of Foot.
[2] He later purchased the rank of lieutenant in the 1st Regiment of Life Guards in July 1847.
[3] He later served as a deputy lieutenant for Nottinghamshire and succeeded his brother, Sir John Sutton, as the 4th Baronet upon his death in June 1873.
[1] Sutton played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1850–51, making three appearances against Cambridge University and a single appearance against Oxford University.