IN THE BEGINNING

THE FAMILY HISTORY OF THE GUINNESSES

After almost three centuries, it must be acknowledged that there exists in the Guinness family a unique set of qualities. These include an astute business sense, appreciation of the efforts of others, inquiring minds, patronage of the arts, theatre, and literature, a scientific approach to agriculture, broadly humanitarian qualities, and, above all, benevolence and a respect for religion.

It has been said that the Guinnesses regarded their wealth as a gift from God and, as such, it was to be used for the benefit of mankind and not squandered. There are reports of the second Arthur Guinness beginning and ending the day with family prayers, and an entire branch of the Guinness family ran missions in the East End of London and traveled as missionaries to the Congo and China.

So, where did it all begin? The name "Guinness" first appeared with Richard Guinness, father of the first Arthur Guinness. Efforts to trace the family back beyond that have been unsuccessful. There are two schools of thought on the more distant origins of the name. Firstly, there was an officer of Cromwell's army called "Ghennis," originally from Cornwall. Over the years, the Ghennis family have made contact with the Guinness family and, although they were received with courtesy, no formal links with them were ever made, or continued.

Secondly, there is a more formal link with the Magennis clan of County Down, believed to be related to the O'Neills. This is the link favored by the Guinness family. The Magennises fought at the Battle of the Boyne on the side of King James-the Catholic side. The Magennis base was in a place called Iveagh in County Down. Many years later, Edward Cecil Guinness took the title "Earl of Iveagh;" the Guinness coat of arms is a derivation of the Magennis coat of arms.

So how can there be a link between the Catholic Magennis clan in County Down in 1690 and the Guinness family, servants to the Protestant Archbishop of Cashel, a hundred years later? We begin with Richard Guinness, father of the first Arthur Guinness. Richard's birth details are unknown, and our first knowledge of this humble man is as steward to Archbishop Arthur Price in Celbridge, County Kildare. The duties of a steward at that time included looking after household provisions-and brewing small amounts of household beer. So, the first brewing Guinness was Richard, who brewed beer as part of his household duties. No doubt he passed his brewing skills on to his first-born and eldest son, Arthur. Richard and his wife, Elizabeth Read, had six children in total: Arthur, Frances, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Richard, and Samuel. The youngest son, Samuel, became a goldsmith and the ancestor of the banking side of the Guinness family.

It is said that the Archbishop of Cashel became renowned as a host, not least for the quality of the dark beer he served to his guests. When he died in 1752, he left £100 to his servant Richard, who used the money to set up a local hostelry in Celbridge called the "Bear and Ragged Staff." Young Arthur was then twenty-seven years old, and the Archbishop also left him £100. Using this legacy, Arthur set up his first brewery-not in Dublin, but in Leixlip, County Kildare. Then, having brewed a beer remarkable for its quality for three years, he left the Leixlip brewery in the hands of his younger brother, Richard, and set out for Dublin.

When Arthur Guinness took on the ailing brewery at St. James's Gate from Mark Rainsford in 1759, he already had a great deal of expertise, both in business and in brewing, and was a mature thirty-four years of age. With the brewery came a nice town house, No. 1 Thomas Street, into which the new Mr. Guinness settled. He quickly became a businessman and a social mover of some note. Within two years, he had met and proposed marriage to Olivia Whitmore, ward of William Lunell and a cousin of the great orator and parliamentarian Henry Grattan. On June 17, 1761, the couple were married; Olivia brought an inheritance of £1,000-a huge sum at the time- to the marriage. Equally important, she was very well-connected in Dublin society.

Obviously believing in the wisdom of large families, Olivia became pregnant twenty-one times over the course of twentysix years, resulting in a family of six sons and four daughters. Their first-born, Elizabeth, later married Frederick Darley, who became Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1809. The second child was a son, Hosea, born in 1765. He took Holy Orders, married a woman named Jane Hart and was the first of a long line of Guinnesses to enter the church. He was for thirty years rector of St. Werburgh's Church, located next to Dublin Castle, and Chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Hosea's youngest son, Francis Hart Vicesimus Guinness, emigrated first to India and then to New Zealand, where many of his descendants live to this day.

Their third child, born in 1768, was a son, Arthur, later known as Arthur Guinness of Beaumont. He lived in the family home at Beaumont, several miles north of Dublin. In 1794, he married Anne Lee, and they had three sons. Meanwhile, his father (the first Arthur) died at his town house in Gardiner Street aged seventy-eight. His funeral took place on January 23 1803. The funeral cortège traveled from Beaumont, an elegant white Georgian manor house, to the graveyard at Oughterard in County Kildare, where he was laid beside his mother, Elizabeth Read.

The second Arthur took over the business on his father's death; he was assisted by his brother Benjamin and by William Lunell. Arthur was also a director of the Bank of Ireland and in 1820 became its Governor. As early as 1797, he is reported as publicly supporting Daniel O'Connell and the cause of Catholic Emancipation.

Of the three sons of the second Arthur, the eldest, William Smythe Lee Grattan Guinness, went into the church, and the second, Artur Lee, had little interest in the business. The third son, Benjamin Lee Guinness, however, had entered the brewery at age sixteen in 1814 and worked there for forty years, until the death of his father in 1855. The second Arthur is laid to rest in the family vault at Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin with the simple inscription: "Arthur Guinness of Beaumont, County Dublin."

Prior to taking over the business in 1855, Benjamin Lee Guinness had been active in business and social circles. He lived at St. Anne's in Clontarf, on the east side of Dublin, and had been elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1851. In 1856, he purchased No. 80 St. Stephen's Green as his town house, in the center of Dublin, overlooking the fashionable private park. In 1865, he was elected...