Arthur Guinness (12 March 1768 – 9 June 1855) was an Irish brewer, banker, politician and flour miller active in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland. To avoid confusion with his father, also
Arthur Guinness (1725–1803), he is often known as "the second Arthur Guinness" or as Arthur Guinness II or Arthur II Guinness.
Family and early career
Arthur Hart Guinness was the second son of
Arthur Guinness and his wife Olivia Whitmore, and was born at their home at
Beaumont
Beaumont may refer to:
Places Canada
* Beaumont, Alberta
* Beaumont, Quebec
England
* Beaumont, Cumbria
* Beaumont, Essex
** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s
* Beaumont Street, Oxford
France (communes)
* Beaumont, Ardèche
* ...
House (now a part of
Beaumont Hospital, Dublin
Beaumont Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Beaumont) is a large teaching hospital located in Beaumont, Dublin, Ireland. It is managed by RCSI Hospitals - one of the hospital groups established by the Health Service Executive. Its academic partner is th ...
). He attended White's Academy in
Grafton Street
Grafton Street () is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre (the other being Henry Street). It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south (at the highest point of the street) to College Green in the north (the lowest p ...
, Dublin, (now the site of
Bewley's
Bewley's is an Irish hot beverage company, located in Dublin and founded in 1840, which operates internationally. Its primary business operations are the production of tea and coffee, and the operations of cafés. Bewley's has operations in Ire ...
). Arthur started working for his father at the
St James's Gate brewery from the 1780s. In 1790 his father, then aged 65, commented in a letter that the expansion of his brewery was partly due to his help:
:"''..one of my sons is grown up to be able to assist me in this Business, or I wd not have attempted it, tho' prompted by a demand of providing for Ten Children now living out of one & twenty born to us, & more likely yet to come.''"
On his marriage to Anne Lee in 1793 the lease of the brewery was assigned to their marriage settlement, proof that he was intended to take over the management of the brewery on his father's death. At the time his younger brothers Benjamin (d.1826) and William (d.1842) were also working in the brewery.
In 1782 his father had also founded the "
Hibernia
''Hibernia'' () is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. The name ''Hibernia'' was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BC), Pytheas of Massalia called the island ''Iérnē'' (written ). ...
n Mills" beside the
River Camac
The River Camac (sometimes spelled ''Cammock'', or, historically, ''Cammoge'' or ''Cammoke''; Irish: or ) is one of the larger rivers in Dublin and was one of four tributaries of the Liffey critical to the early development of the city.
Cour ...
in
Kilmainham
Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum.
History
In t ...
to mill flour for the expanding city's population. This was due to the expansion of Irish exports and commerce fostered from 1779 by the
Irish Patriot Party
The Irish Patriot Party was the name of a number of different political groupings in Ireland throughout the 18th century. They were primarily supportive of Whig concepts of personal liberty combined with an Irish identity that rejected full inde ...
, which the Guinnesses supported.
The Brewery partnership
On his father's death in January 1803, he and his brothers Benjamin and William Lunell created a partnership trading as: "A. B. & W.L. Guinness & Co, brewers and flour millers". He bought Beaumont House from his elder brother the Revd. Hosea Guinness, who was Rector of
St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin. In 1808 they bought their first
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
from
Boulton and Watt
Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Engli ...
for pumping water.
Sales grew from 360,936 gallons in 1800 to 2,133,504 gallons by 1815. A slump followed, with sales dropping from 66,000 barrels to 27,000 by 1820.
From its rebuilding in 1797–99 the brewery had stopped brewing
ale
Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops.
As with most beers, ale typicall ...
and concentrated on
porter
Porter may refer to:
Companies
* Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto
* Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets
* Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer
* H.K. Porter, Inc., ...
. From the 1820s enhanced and stronger varieties of porter known as "Extra Superior Porter" or "Double
Stout
Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout.
The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...
" were developed in Dublin for the export trade to Britain. By 1837 the young
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
mentioned that he had: ".. supped at
the Carlton.. off oysters, Guinness and broiled bones".
In the background Arthur's brewery benefited hugely until the 1830s from the difference between the
malt tax levied in Britain and Ireland, easing his higher-value exports to Britain, and so Arthur became more of a supporter of the
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
as it was in the 1830s, having been a supporter of Grattan's form of home rule in his youth.
In 1839 Guinness assisted his nephew John in establishing a short-lived brewery in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
.
By his death in 1855, St James's Gate was brewing and selling 78,000
hogshead
A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commodity). More specifically, it refers to a specified volume, measured in either imperial or US customary measures, primarily applied to alcoho ...
s annually, equivalent to 4,212,000 gallons. Of these, 42,000 hogsheads were exported, mainly to the British market.
Philanthropy
He supported, as trustee or sponsor, the:
* Meath Street Savings Bank;
*
Catholic Association
The Catholic Association was an Irish Roman Catholic political organisation set up by Daniel O'Connell in the early nineteenth century to campaign for Catholic emancipation within Great Britain. It was one of the first mass-membership politica ...
1823–29;
* Society for Improving the Condition of the Poor
*
Hibernian Bible Society
* The
Meath Hospital
The Meath Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal na Mí) was a general hospital in the Earl of Meath's Liberty in Dublin, Ireland. It was absorbed into the Tallaght Hospital in June 1998.
History
The hospital was opened to serve the sick and poor in the crow ...
*
Bethesda Locks Penitentiary, Dorset St, both Arthur and his wife served on the Governing Committee
* He was also a subscriber to
Nelson's Pillar
Nelson's Pillar (also known as the Nelson Pillar or simply the Pillar) was a large granite column capped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, built in the centre of what was then Sackville Street (later renamed O'Connell Street) in Dublin, Ireland. ...
, built from 1808-9.
His religious views appear to have been
Low church Anglican.
Banking career
Due to the halving of brewery sales in 1815–20 down to a million gallons a year, the partnership relied on profits from its flour mills during the
Post-Napoleonic depression. The mills had burnt down in 1806, were rebuilt and leased from 1828, and were sold in 1838.
Arthur had also become interested in banking and was appointed to the
"Court of Directors" of the
Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...
between 1804–47, eventually becoming its Governor in 1820–22. The bank's headquarters were the former
Irish Houses of Parliament
Parliament House ( ga, Tithe na Parlaiminte) in Dublin, Ireland, was home to the Parliament of Ireland, and since 1803 has housed the Bank of Ireland. It was the world's first purpose-built bicameral parliament house. It is located at Colleg ...
. In 1825 Arthur sought unsuccessfully to remove the bar on Catholics being chosen as directors of the bank.
He was also chairman of the
Dublin Chamber of Commerce
Dublin Chamber of Commerce also known as the Dublin Chamber, is the oldest chamber of commerce in Ireland.
Origins
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1783. It had been preceded by other collective bodies including the Guild of Merc ...
, elected unanimously from 1826 to 1855, and was a member of the
Ouzel Galley Society that provided
arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
in business disputes. He was elected a member of
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...
; of the Dublin Brewers' Guild; and of the
Royal Dublin Society
The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...
in 1802.
Despite the drop in Dublin's commerce caused by the
Act of Union of 1801, the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
and the post-war depression, the removal of the former aristocracy to London, and the difficult and deflationary currency union of 1818–26 between the old Irish pound and the pound sterling, Guinness persevered in banking. As a result of his networking he was one of the Dubliners chosen to greet
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
on his visit to the city in 1821.
Marriages
![Arms of Lee Guinness](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Arms_of_Lee_Guinness.svg)
Guinness married Anne Lee at
St. Mary's Church, Dublin on 7 May 1793. His wife Anne (1774–1817) was a daughter of the Dublin builder and
brickmaker Benjamin Lee and his wife, Susanna Smyth. They had nine children, including:
* Revd. William S. Guinness (1795–1864), clergyman
* Arthur Lee Guinness (1797–1863), art collector and brewer until 1839
*
Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1798–1868), brewer and MP
* Susanna Guinness (1804–36); married the Revd John Darley
* Elizabeth Guinness (1813-1897); married Revd William Jameson
* Rebecca Guinness (1814–70); married
Sir Edmund Waller (1797–1851)
Arthur remarried, to Maria Barker, in 1821; they had no children.
In 1804 his brother Benjamin married Rebecca Lee, Anne's sister. Their daughter Susan married Arthur's eldest son, Revd. William S. Guinness, in 1826.
In 1814, Arthur joined his brother Hosea in applying for a grant to use the arms of the
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
Magennis
Magennis ( ga, Mac Aonghusa), also spelled Maguiness, Maginnis, Magenis, McGinnis, or McGuinness, is an Irish surname, meaning the "son of Angus", which in eastern Ulster was commonly pronounced in Irish as ''Mac Aonghusa''. A prominent branch o ...
clan from
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
, as their father had used them from 1761. The Deputy Herald
Sir William Betham refused the same arms but granted similar arms that were recoloured. Arthur impaled the arms of his wife's family, the Lees.
Business succession
The late 1830s was a time of transition. The family flour mill in Kilmainham was sold in 1838 on the passing of the Bread (Ireland) Act. The partnerships with his brothers had ended by 1840; His eldest son was a clergyman; and his second son, the third Arthur Guinness, had resigned in 1839 due to a brief affair with
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...
who was working as a clerk at the brewery.
Thereafter his third son Benjamin managed the brewery from 1839 with the Purser family, with Arthur, by now aged 70, involved only with the larger decisions. On Arthur's death in 1855 Benjamin became sole owner of the business. In turn, his third son
Edward
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
would become the sole owner from 1876.
Political views
Arthur supported Catholic Emancipation from at least the 1790s, but not the
Society of United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
. On the approach to the
1798 rebellion
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...
he deplored both official and rebel violence, and assumed that the solution would be
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
with
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
. In a 1797 speech in Dublin he regretted:
:"''.. the strong measures at present adopted for the suppression and prevention of tumult and disorder''", and he suggested: "''The things most likely to produce this most desirable end are the total removal of the remaining barriers between us and our Roman Catholic brethren and a constitutional reform in the representation of the people in Parliament.''"
The Dublin Catholic Board commented in 1813 that he and his brothers were: "''..entitled to the confidence, gratitude and thanks of the Catholics of Ireland''". In 1819 he is mentioned in a group of supporters visiting
Henry Grattan
Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...
.
He was elected to
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...
arising from his selection as one of the four members sent by the Dublin Brewers' Guild, under the old elective system that was reformed by the
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840
The Municipal Corporations Act (Ireland) 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 108), ''An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland'', was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 10 August 1840. It was one of the Municipal Corporati ...
. He did not want to stand for election to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, explaining to his son Benjamin that:
:"''..The office of sitting in parliament for a great city, and especially such a city as Dublin, where party and sectarian strife so signally abound, and more especially if filled by one engaged in our line of business, is fraught with difficulty and danger.''"
In 1829 he helped raise £30,000 for Daniel O'Connell at the time of
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
when he took his seat in the House of Commons. In May 1831 he spoke at a meeting campaigning for what became the
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...
, saying:
:"''A great change was taking place all over the world. Men were awakening. Reason and intelligence were on their majestic way, and everywhere the good principle was beginning to be asserted that Governments were instituted for the benefit of the people.. ''".
His early support for Daniel O'Connell changed during the
1837 election when Arthur voted for the conservatives (then a public act), and from now on he opposed O'Connell's proposals to
repeal the Act of Union. In his 1837 victory speech O'Connell commented dismissively that:
:"''I thought they had a better spirit; but at all events, they have now the recollection of their conduct without the consolation of having inflicted any real injury. With contemptuous pity I dismiss the Guinnesses''".
O'Connell then editorialised with regret in his journal, ''The Pilot'' that Arthur:
:"''..never committed but this one error.. who is known to be.. a friend of civil and religious liberty, and a foe to.. corruption and
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
domination''".
This opposition was inflamed by O'Connell's son Daniel junior being given the neighbouring Phoenix brewery to run from 1831, despite his lack of experience, which had failed within a few years. But from the late 1830s the O'Connells lost all interest in brewing when
Father Mathew
Theobald Mathew (10 October 1790 – 8 December 1856) was an Irish Catholic priest and teetotalist reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew. He was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary, on 10 October 1790, to James Mathew and his ...
started his
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
crusade. By 1839 O'Connell was describing Arthur in a private letter as a: "''miserable old
apostate
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...
''".
During the
Great Famine of the 1840s, Arthur called on his son Benjamin to donate to the starving, adding that:
:"''..my purse is open to the call.''" How much was donated is unknown.
This was in contrast to O'Connell, who spoke in sympathy, but achieved so little for the poor. O'Connell's allies, the Liberals, were led by
Sir John Russell whose
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
policy would worsen the effects of the famine in 1846–49, refusing to send sufficient emergency supplies. In contrast, the conservative
Second Peel ministry
The second Peel ministry was formed by Sir Robert Peel in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1841.
History
Peel came to power for a second time after the Conservative victory in the General Election caused the Whig government ...
of 1841–46 had at least organised deliveries of food in late 1845.
Retirement and death
Having established a huge growth in exports Arthur retired to
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...
in the 1840s, with occasional visits to Dublin. He died at Beaumont in 1855, aged 87, and was buried at
Mount Jerome Cemetery
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
. His funeral procession was attended by "mutes bearing wands and mourning badges".
[Joyce J, op cit, p.64] His net estate at probate was valued at £180,000.
Reference books
* Hall, FG; ''The Bank of Ireland 1783–1946''. Hodges Figgis (Dublin) and Blackwell's (Oxford) 1948.
* Martelli G. ''Man of his time''. London 1957
* Lynch P. & Vaizey J; ''Guinness's Brewery in the Irish Economy 1759–1876''. Cambridge University Press 1960.
* Wilson D. ''Dark and Light'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1998
* Hughes D; ''A Bottle of Guinness Please": The Colourful History of Guinness''. Phimboy 2006.
* Guinness P: ''Arthur's Round'' Peter Owen, London 2008.
* Joyce J.; ''The Guinnesses'' Poolbeg Press, Dublin 2009.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinness, Arthur, II
1768 births
1855 deaths
Arthur II
18th-century Irish businesspeople
Irish bankers
Irish philanthropists
Businesspeople from County Dublin
Local councillors in Dublin (city)
Politicians from Dublin (city)
Economic history of Ireland
19th-century Irish businesspeople