33 Facts About Arthur Guinness

1.

Arthur Guinness himself was later employed by Price, and upon his death in 1752, both he and his father were bequeathed funds from Price's will.

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2.

Arthur Guinness then worked at his stepmother's public house before founding a brewery in Leixlip.

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3.

In 1759, during a financial crisis that created an abundance of affordable property, Arthur Guinness moved to Dublin and purchased an abandoned brewery from the Rainsford family.

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4.

Arthur Guinness was largely supportive of Catholic rights in Ireland but opposed the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

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5.

DNA testing run by Trinity College Dublin suggests that Arthur Guinness's ancestors were actually another County Down family, the McCartans, who lived in a village called Ginnies.

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6.

Arthur Guinness was the first of five children born to Richard and Elizabeth.

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7.

Likely born on Price's Oakley Park estate, Arthur Guinness was named for the vicar, who served as his godfather.

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8.

Arthur Guinness's exact date of birth is disputed by historians: while many sources suggest that he was born on 24 September 1725, the Arthur Guinness Company formally declared in 1991 that their founder's date of birth was on 28 September.

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9.

Arthur Guinness's gravestone, meanwhile, states that he was 78 years old upon his death in January 1803, making it possible that he was born in 1724 rather than 1725.

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10.

The occupation would have required Arthur Guinness to be literate, versed in arithmetic, and capable of writing, all opportunities that were rare for non-nobles.

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11.

The origin of Arthur Guinness's yeast is unknown, but is likely from Kildare and potentially originated from the White Hart Inn.

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12.

In 1759, Arthur Guinness moved to Dublin, leaving his Leixlip property in the care of his brother Richard.

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13.

Arthur Guinness was interested in acquiring a brewery at St James's Gate that had been abandoned nine years prior.

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14.

The properties agreed to settle the matter in court, and in 1785, Arthur Guinness agreed to lease his water from the City of Dublin for an annual charge of £10.

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15.

Arthur Guinness began tentatively adding porter to his ale-heavy brewery in 1778, and by 1783, it dominated his marketing, with Arthur Guinness telling a parliamentary committee, "a porter buys none but the best, as none else will answer".

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16.

Arthur Guinness served first as warden and later as master of the Dublin Corporation of Brewers, a position through which he would frequently argue on behalf of the brewing industry to the Irish Parliament.

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17.

Two years after the tax code was altered, Arthur Guinness became the official beer purveyor of Dublin Castle.

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18.

Elizabeth Arthur Guinness married Frederick Darley in 1809, the same year that he became the Lord Mayor of Dublin.

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19.

Arthur Guinness was educated at Winchester College, the University of Oxford, and Trinity College Dublin before serving as the rector of St Werburgh's Church, Dublin, until his death in 1841.

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20.

John Grattan Arthur Guinness, who had previously served in the East India Company, joined the brewery company as a sales agent in 1824, but left the position after his wife's death.

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21.

In 1811, a bankrupt Edward Arthur Guinness fled to the Isle of Man as protection from his debtors.

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22.

Arthur Guinness was politically active throughout his life, both as a supporter of his cousin-in-law Henry Gratton and as a member of the Dublin Corporation.

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23.

Arthur Guinness was additionally a lifelong member and secretary of the Kildare Knot, a dining club made up of wealthy individuals regardless of religion.

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24.

Arthur Guinness was opposed to the Irish Rebellion of 1798, an uprising of Presbyterian radicals who wished to overthrow British rule in Ireland.

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25.

Arthur Guinness disliked both the economic disruption that the rebellion brought, as well as the violence it incurred.

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26.

Arthur Guinness was a deeply religious man whose personal motto was "Spes Mea in Deo", Latin for "My Hope is in God".

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27.

Arthur Guinness served as treasurer and later Governor of Meath Hospital and frequently donated money to St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.

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28.

Arthur Guinness believed that the duty of the wealthy and powerful was to set a strong moral example for their citizenry and looked unfavorably on what he viewed as displays of excess.

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29.

Arthur Guinness once protested the traditional feast of a new alderman, worried that the occasion would lead to drunken impropriety, and instead suggested that the money set aside for the banquet be donated to The King's Hospital.

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30.

Arthur Guinness was particularly opposed to the culture of dueling among the Irish elite, which he viewed as a deadly sport masquerading as honour, but his efforts to eliminate or reduce dueling were unsuccessful.

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31.

Arthur Guinness continued to expand and renovate the brewery throughout his life: by 1790, two flour mills in Kilmainham, known as the Hibernian Mills, were constructed and fully operational.

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32.

Arthur Guinness died on 23 January 1803 at the family estate of Beaumont of unknown causes.

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33.

In 1997, Arthur Guinness PLC merged with Grand Metropolitan to form the beverage conglomerate Diageo.

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