Arthur Guinness

NAME Arthur Guinness

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Founder of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, creator of one of the world’s most iconic beers.

BIRTH Arthur Guinness was born around September 24, 1725 in Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. However, his exact birth date remains disputed among historians. While many sources cite September 24, 1725, the Guinness Company declared in 1991 that their founder was born on 28 September. His gravestone indicates he was 78 years old at death in January 1803, suggesting he may have been born in 1724 rather than 1725.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Arthur came from humble tenant farming stock. His father Richard Guinness (born around 1690) worked as a land steward for Arthur Price, a Church of Ireland vicar in Celbridge who later became Archbishop of Cashel. His mother Elizabeth Read was the daughter of tenant farmers in Oughter Ard, County Kildare. Richard and Elizabeth married in the early 1720s and had five children, with Arthur being the eldest.

The family's origins have been subject to speculation. During Arthur's lifetime, he believed he was descended from the Magennises of Iveagh, but modern DNA testing by Trinity College Dublin suggests his ancestors were actually the McCartans, who lived in a village called Guiness near Ballynahinch.

CHILDHOOD Arthur was born on Arthur Price's Oakley Park estate and was named after the vicar, who also served as his godfather. Little is recorded about his early childhood, though he would have grown up in modest circumstances on the estate where his father worked. His mother Elizabeth died in August 1742 when Arthur was 18 years old.

 The close relationship between Richard and Arthur Price, who was also Arthur's godfather, is believed to have been instrumental in the young Arthur's career. When Price died, he bequeathed £100 to both Arthur and his brother, Richard, which Arthur used to start his first brewery. 

EDUCATION Arthur received an education that was exceptional for someone of his social standing. By 1742, he had followed his father into employment with Arthur Price as a registrar, a position that required him to be literate, versed in arithmetic, and capable of writing - skills that were rare for non-nobles at the time. This suggests he received formal education, though the specific details of his schooling are not recorded.

CAREER RECORD Arthur Guiness's brewing career began modestly but grew into a remarkable business empire:

1752: Inherited £100 from his godfather Arthur Price, equivalent to four years' wages

1755: Established his first brewery in Leixlip, County Kildare

1759: At age 34, signed a 9,000-year lease on St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin for £45 per annum

1763: Elected Warden of the Dublin Corporation of Brewers

1767: Named Master of the Dublin Corporation of Brewers

1769: First exported Guinness beer to England

1770s: Became brewer to Dublin Castle

1778: Began producing porter, which would become his signature product

1799: Ceased production of ale to focus entirely on porter

By the time of his death in 1803, the brewery was producing over 30,000 hectoliters of porter per year.

APPEARANCE Only one known portrait of Arthur Guinness exists today, as he was famously portrait-shy. It depicts Arthur Guinness as a man with a stern, focused expression. He is shown with a powdered wig, common for men of his status in the 18th century. His face is strong, with a prominent chin and nose.

Portrait of Guinness, dated 1759

FASHION He dressed in typical Georgian fashion—waistcoats, breeches, and powdered wigs in his earlier years.

CHARACTER  Guinness was known for his drive, determination, and meticulous attention to detail. He was a shrewd businessman, evidenced by his famous 9,000-year lease, which secured his brewery's future for generations. He was also a devout Protestant and a firm supporter of the established church. Guinness was a conservative and pragmatic individual, but his entrepreneurial spirit was undeniable.

SPEAKING VOICE Guinness likely spoke in the educated Dublin accent of the time.

When Dublin Corporation attempted to cut off his water supply due to overuse, contemporary accounts record that Arthur "violently rushed upon them wrenching a pickaxe from one and declaring with very much improper language, that they should not proceed". This suggests he could be forceful and passionate in his speech when defending his business interests. (1)

SENSE OF HUMOUR Guinness was said to have been genial and sociable in company.

RELATIONSHIPS Arthur Guinness married Olivia Whitmore on June 17, 1761 in St. Mary's Church, Dublin. Olivia came from a wealthy and well-connected family and brought a £1,000 dowry to the marriage. She was a descendant of William of Wykeham and had several socio-politically prominent relatives, including her cousin Henry Grattan, a member of the Parliament of Ireland.

The couple had an exceptionally large family, with Olivia giving birth to 21 children, though she suffered 11 miscarriages. Ten children survived to adulthood: Elizabeth, Hosea, Arthur, Edward, Olivia, Benjamin, Louisa, John Grattan, William Lunell, and Mary Anne.

His sons, particularly Arthur Guinness II, continued his legacy and took over the management of the brewery after his death. His descendants would go on to have a significant impact on Irish business, politics, and philanthropy.

Arthur Guinness II 

MONEY AND FAME Arthur Guinness started with a modest inheritance of £100, which he used to establish his business. Through hard work and strategic decisions, he transformed his brewery into a profitable enterprise, amassing a considerable fortune. By his death in 1803, it was estimated to be producing approximately 809,000 gallons of beer per year with sales growing by 10 percent annually.

His fame grew posthumously as the Guinness brand became a global phenomenon, making his name synonymous with Irish stout

GUINNESS BREWERY Arthur Guinness’s story really begins with £100. That’s what he inherited in 1752 from his godfather, Archbishop Arthur Price. Now, £100 doesn’t sound like much today—you couldn’t get a half-decent second-hand hatchback for it—but in mid-18th-century Ireland it was a fortune. For perspective, you could hire a farmhand for about £10 a year. Arthur, sensibly, did not spend his inheritance on wigs or waistcoats or other Georgian fripperies. He built a brewery.

The Leixlip venture did rather well, but Arthur was not a man to be confined by a small town. Dublin beckoned with its larger population, booming trade, and, crucially, cheaper property (the city was having one of its periodic downturns, as property markets always seem to be). On December 31,  1759, aged 34, he made the boldest move of his life: he signed a lease on a four-acre site at St. James’s Gate. Not a 50-year lease, which would have been perfectly normal. Not even a hundred years, which would have been positively audacious. No, he went for 9,000 years. The sheer optimism of it still boggles the mind. Arthur agreed to pay £45 a year until the year 10,759. One can only assume the landlord, pen in hand, struggled to keep a straight face.

View of the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate by Mikel Ortega

From this unlikely foundation, Guinness grew. The location was ideal—good water supply, easy access to Dublin’s port, and plenty of malt and hops. By 1769 Arthur was already exporting to England, which was no small feat given the state of 18th-century shipping (imagine your carefully brewed beer jostling in barrels for weeks, sharing space with pigs and sailors). Yet the drink travelled well, and Guinness began to spread.

At first Arthur brewed ales, the everyday drink of the time. But around 1778 he discovered porter, a dark, hearty beer from London that had become the preferred tipple of working men, especially the city’s porters, who gave it its name. Porter was richer, more robust, and—thanks to the soft Dublin water—arguably better brewed in Ireland than anywhere else. Arthur saw its potential immediately. By 1799, he abandoned ale altogether and focused solely on stout porter, which people soon shortened to stout.

It was a masterstroke. Within a few decades, Guinness was the largest brewery in Ireland. By 1838, it was the biggest anywhere on earth, and by 1886 it was producing more beer than any other company in human history. And all of it can be traced back to £100 from a kindly archbishop, one astonishingly long lease, and a brewer who trusted his instincts—and his stout—long after he himself was gone.

FOOD AND DRINK As a brewer, Arthur was professionally involved with alcoholic beverages, though he advocated for moderation rather than teetotalism. He believed that drunkenness was attributed to strong liquors like gin rather than to beer, positioning his products as a healthier alternative to the poor-quality gin that was devastating Irish society.

MUSIC AND ARTS There are no public records of Arthur Guinness's direct involvement with music or the arts, but his descendants, particularly those in the 19th and 20th centuries, became renowned patrons of the arts.

Guinness adopted the harp as its symbol to firmly establish the brand's Irish identity and heritage, reflecting Ireland's deep cultural and musical traditions. The harp has been a heraldic emblem of Ireland since the 13th century, symbolizing the nation itself, and Guinness chose the design based specifically on the famous "Brian Boru" harp now housed at Trinity College Dublin.

The harp first appeared on Guinness bottle labels in 1862 and was officially trademarked in 1876—well before the Irish government existed.

LITERATURE Arthur Guinness 's literacy and role as a registrar indicate he was well-educated, but no specific records of his literary interests or reading habits survive.

His life and work have been the subject of numerous books and articles.

NATURE Arthur Guinness's business was intimately connected with natural resources, particularly water and agricultural products used in brewing. His famous confrontation with Dublin Corporation over water rights demonstrates his understanding of the importance of natural resources to his enterprise.

PETS Cats later appeared on the books of Guinness breweries for their work keeping away mice, receiving extra treats from the profits.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS In 1758, Arthur Guinness joined the Kildare Friendly Brothers dining club, suggesting he enjoyed social activities with his peers. 

SCIENCE AND MATHS Arthur Guinness's success as a brewer required understanding of the scientific principles involved in fermentation and the mathematical skills needed to run a large business operation. His role as a registrar also demonstrated his mathematical competency.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Arthur Guinness was, at heart, a man who believed that God mattered in everything. He was a devout Protestant, rooted in the Church of Ireland, but his imagination had been captured by the Methodists and their great preacher John Wesley, who made faith a matter of the heart as well as the head.

Arthur even had a motto—Spes Mea in Deo, which means “My Hope is in God.” It wasn’t something he scribbled down in a moment of piety and then forgot about. It really was the engine of his life.

He wasn’t content just to brew beer and make money. In 1786, moved by the thought that children might have a better chance in life if they met God early, he started Dublin’s very first Sunday school. He had been inspired by Robert Raikes, who believed that faith and morals planted in the young could keep them from stumbling into crime later on.

Arthur Guinness gave away a great deal of time and money, not because it looked good but because he thought wealth carried responsibility. He served as treasurer and later Governor of Meath Hospital, and he regularly gave to St Patrick’s Cathedral. His philanthropy was not grand or flamboyant—it was, like the man himself, steady, faithful, and quietly hopeful that God could use even a brewer from Dublin to do some good.

POLITICS Guinness was a strong advocate for the Irish Parliament and a vocal opponent of the Act of Union, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland with Great Britain. He was a public figure who used his influence to support local political and social causes, demonstrating a firm commitment to his country.

Arthur Guinness supported Henry Grattan, an Irish politician who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament, partly because Grattan wanted to reduce taxes on beer. 

He was largely supportive of Catholic rights in Ireland, publicly supporting Catholic emancipation in 1793 despite coming from an upper-class Protestant family.

Guinness opposed the Irish Rebellion of 1798. In 1797, he was named by The Union Star newspaper as a suspected informer, described as "A brewer at James's Gate, an active spy. United Irishmen will be cautious of dealing with any publican who sells his drink". (2)

SCANDAL The primary controversy surrounding Arthur Guinness involved accusations that he was a British spy during the lead-up to the 1798 Rebellion. The United Irishmen, Republican rebels, criticized him for allegedly being an informer to Dublin Castle and the British authorities. This has remained a contentious aspect of his legacy, with some viewing it as conflicting with the way Guinness has been marketed as synonymous with Irishness.

MILITARY RECORD Arthur Guinness was not involved in military activities and focused entirely on his business and civic pursuits.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Arthur Guinness lived to the relatively advanced age of 78, and his longevity suggests reasonable health for his era.

HOMES Arthur Guinness was born at Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Kildare, and spent his early years there—the place of his birth sometimes identified as Oakley Park, the estate of his father’s employer.

Between 1752 and 1764 he lived in various locations including his stepmother's White Hart Inn

Arthur Guinness's most notable residence was Beaumont House, a gracious 18th-century farmhouse located north of Dublin. He purchased and moved into Beaumont House in 1764, transforming it into his family home and villa retreat—a property that remained in the Guinness family until 1855. The house stood on 51 acres of land in the parish of Coolock, leased for £93 per year, and its location atop an ascent offered impressive views across Dublin to the Wicklow Mountains.

Beaumont House was renowned for its symmetrical plan, elegant features, and became synonymous with the Guinness family's legacy in north Dublin. In Arthur's era, it served as his main residence and a base for his large family. Today, the original building survives as a protected structure and has since been used as a convalescent home by the Sisters of Mercy.

TRAVEL His life and work were centered in Ireland, specifically Dublin and County Kildare. There is no record of him undertaking significant international travel.

DEATH Arthur Guinness died on January 23, 1803 at the age of 78 at Beaumont House. He was buried in his mother's burial plot at Oughterard Churchyard, County Kildare. The inscription on his grave reads: "In the adjoining vault are deposited the mortal remains of Arthur Guinness late of James's Gate in the city and of Beaumont in the county of Dublin esquire who departed this life on the 23rd January A.D. 1803 age 78".

His wife Olivia died in March 1814 at age 72 and was buried in the same vault.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Arthur Guinness has been featured in numerous books, documentaries, and promotional materials related to the Guinness brand. The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin serves as a major tourist attraction telling his story. Various biographical works have been written about him, including Arthur's Round: The Life and Times of Brewing Legend Arthur Guinness. 

He has become a central figure in Irish cultural identity and the global marketing of Irish heritage. His image is also featured on various promotional materials for Guinness stout.

ACHIEVEMENTS Founded Guinness Brewery at St. James’s Gate.

Secured the legendary 9,000-year lease.

Transitioned the brewery to focus on stout, defining a national—and later international—drink.

Established the Guinness family as one of Ireland’s most influential dynasties.

Sources: (1) Guinness.com (2) Irish Central