Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1 November 1798 – 19 May 1868) was an Irish brewer and philanthropist.

Brewer

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, he was the third son of the second Arthur Guinness (1768–1855), and his wife Anne Lee, and a grandson of the first

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

(1725–1803), who had bought the St. James's Gate Brewery in 1759. He joined his father in the business in his late teens, without attending university, and from 1839 he took sole control within the family. From 1855, when his father died, Guinness had become the richest man in Ireland, having built up a huge export trade and by continually enlarging his brewery. In numbers, sales of his single and double stouts had been 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 alco ...

s in 1855, which he nearly trebled to 206,000 hogsheads in 1865. Of these, some 112,000 were sold in Ireland, as the rural economy recovered from the Great Famine of the 1840s, and 94,000 were exported to Britain. By 1870, soon after his death, sales had risen further to 256,000 hogsheads, of which 120,000 were exported to Britain. Benjamin had also created the capacity for his sons to expand sales much further, and by 1879 these reached 565,000 hogsheads. As a part of the brewery expansion, and to ensure deliveries, he invested in the new Irish railway companies from the 1840s. By 1867 the firm owned £86,000-worth of Irish railway stock (worth over £135m in 2013 values, taken as a share of GDP).

Dublin politician

In 1851 he was elected the first

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under the reformed corporation. In 1863 he was made an honorary LL.D. (Doctor of Laws) by

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, and on 15 April 1867 was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

by patent, in addition to which, on 18 May 1867, by royal licence, he had a grant of

supporters In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. However, unlike the c ...

to his family arms. Guinness was elected 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. T ...

in 1865 as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

representative for Dublin City, serving until his death. His party's leader was Lord Derby. Previously he had supported the Liberal Lord Palmerston, but in the 1860s the Liberals proposed higher taxation on drinks such as beer. Before 1865 the

Irish Conservative Party The Irish Conservative Party, often called the Irish Tories, was one of the dominant Irish political parties in Ireland in the 19th century. It was affiliated with the Conservative Party in Great Britain. Throughout much of the century it and th ...

did not entirely support British conservative policy, but did so after the Irish Church Act 1869. The government's most notable reform was the Reform Act 1867 that expanded the franchise.

Philanthropist

From 1860 to 1865, he undertook at his own expense, and without hiring an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, the restoration of the city's St Patrick's Cathedral, an enterprise that cost him over £150,000. In 1865 the building was restored to the dean and chapter, and reopened for services on 24 February. The citizens of Dublin and the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's presented him with addresses on 31 December 1865, expressive of their gratitude for what he had done for the city. The addresses were in two volumes, which were afterwards exhibited at the Paris Exhibition. In recognition of his generosity, he was made a

in 1867. He was one of the ecclesiastical commissioners for Ireland, a governor of Simpson's Hospital, and vice-chairman of the

Dublin Exhibition Palace Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. He died the following year at his

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from ...

London home. At the time of his death he was engaged in the restoration of Archbishop Marsh's public library, a building which adjoins St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was finished by his son Arthur. He showed his practical interest in Irish archæology by carefully preserving the antiquarian remains existing on his large estates around Ashford Castle in

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, which he bought in 1855. Nearby Cong Abbey was well-known, and the famous Cross of Cong had been moved to a Dublin museum in 1839.

Family

On 24 February 1837 he married his first cousin Elizabeth Guinness, third daughter of Edward Guinness of Dublin, and they had three sons and a daughter, living at Beaumont House, Beaumont, in north

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. In 1856 he bought what is now

Iveagh House Iveagh House is a Georgian house which now contains the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, Ireland. It is also sometimes used colloquially as a metonym referring to the department itself. Iveagh House was originally ...

at 80

St Stephen's Green St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by ...

. Ashford Castle was described in

William Wilde Sir William Robert Wills Wilde FRCSI (March 1815 – 19 April 1876) was an Irish oto- ophthalmologic surgeon and the author of significant works on medicine, archaeology and folklore, particularly concerning his native Ireland. He was the f ...

's book on

Lough Corrib Lough Corrib ( ; ) is a lake in the west of Ireland. The River Corrib or Galway River connects the lake to the sea at Galway. It is the largest lake within the Republic of Ireland and the second largest on the island of Ireland (after Lough Nea ...

in the 1860s. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son,

, who took over the brewery with his brother, the 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-Sax ...

. His second son Benjamin (1842–1900) married Henrietta, daughter of

Thomas St Lawrence, 3rd Earl of Howth Thomas St Lawrence, 3rd Earl of Howth KP (16 August 1803 – 4 February 1874) was an Irish peer, styled Viscount St Lawrence until 1822. He became Earl of Howth in 1822 on the death of his father, William St Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Howth. His mot ...

; they moved to England where he was a Captain in the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

. His daughter Anne married William, Lord Plunket in 1863. The present-day

Guinness Baronets There have been two baronetcies created for members of the Guinness brewing family, both in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. As of 2014 both titles are extant. The Guinness Baronetcy, of Ashford in the County of Galway, is a title in ...

descend from his second son Benjamin. He was buried in

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, ...

, Dublin, in the family vault, on 27 May. His personalty was sworn under £1,100,000 on 8 August 1868. A bronze statue of him by John Foley was erected by the Cathedral Chapter in St. Patrick's churchyard, on the south side of the cathedral, in September 1875, which was restored in 2006.

References

;Attribution *

External links

*
Benjamin Guinness in ''A Compendium of Irish Biography'' (1878)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinness, Sir Benjamin, 1st Baronet

Benjamin Lee Guinness Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1 November 1798 – 19 May 1868) was an Irish brewer and philanthropist. Brewer Born in Dublin, he was the third son of the second Arthur Guinness (1768–1855), and his wife Anne Lee, and a grandson of ...

Irish brewers Philanthropists from Dublin (city) Irish Anglicans Businesspeople from Dublin (city) People from Raheny Lord Mayors of Dublin Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1865–1868 Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Irish knights 1798 births 1868 deaths Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium 19th-century Irish businesspeople