Arthur Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, (1 November 1840 – 20 January 1915), styled Sir Arthur Guinness, Bt between 1868 and 1880, was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

businessman, politician and philanthropist. He is perhaps best known for giving

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 ...

to the

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 si ...

for public use.

Background and education

Guinness was born at St Anne's, Clontarf, Dublin, the eldest son of Sir Benjamin Guinness, 1st Baronet, and elder brother of

Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, (10 November 1847 – 7 October 1927) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish businessman and philanthropist. A member of the prominent Guinness family, he was the head of the family's eponymous Guinnes ...

. He was the great-grandson of Arthur Guinness. He was educated at Eton and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he graduated BA in 1862, and in 1868 succeeded his father as the second Baronet Guinness of Ashford.

Political life

In 1868 Guinness was elected

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

Member of Parliament for the City of Dublin, a seat he held for only a year. His election was voided because of his election agent's unlawful efforts, which the court found were unknown to him. He was re-elected at the next election in 1874. A supporter of Disraeli's "one nation" conservatism, his politics were typical of "constructive unionism", the belief that the union between Ireland and Britain should be more beneficial to the people of Ireland after centuries of difficulties. In 1872 he was a sponsor of the "Irish Exhibition" at Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin, which was arranged to promote Irish trade. Correcting a mistake about the exhibition in the '' Freeman's Journal'' led to a death threat from a religious extremist, which he did not report to the police. In the 1890s he supported the

Irish Unionist Alliance The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists, was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and ...

. After withdrawing from the

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

company in 1876, when he sold his half-share to his brother

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

for £600,000, he was in 1880 raised to the peerage as Baron Ardilaun, of Ashford in the County of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. His home there was at Ashford Castle on Lough Corrib, and his title derived from the Gaelic ''Ard Oileáin'', a 'high island' on the lake.

Landlord

In 1852, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1798–1868), heir to the Guinness brewery fortune and father of Arthur Guinness, "acquired several Connacht estates that were up for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court. He bought the Ashford estate from Lord Oranmore and Browne, the Doon estate from Sir Richard O'Donnell, the Cong estate from Alexander Lambert, part of the Rosshill estate from Lords Charlemont and Leitrim, parts of Connemara from Christopher St George. In 1859, he bought Kylemore from a banking consortium. With these purchases, Benjamin Guinness became landlord to 670 tenants, 316 of whom rented at less than £5 per annum. With his father’s death in 1868, Arthur Guinness, 2nd Baronet and oldest son and heir, continued in his father’s footsteps, purchasing vast swaths of Galway. "He bought the Elwood estate of Strandhill, just across the river from Ashford, Cong, in 1871, and Lord Kilmaine sold him the Inishdoorus islands on Lough Corrib, and lands in the barony of Ross, part of Nymphsfield near Cong in 1875. William Burke of Lisloughry was his agent". When Arthur's acquisitions were combined with those of his father, total acreage for the Ashford estate was 33,298 with the result that Lord Ardilaun owned most of County Galway between Maam (Maum) Bridge and Lough Mask. Owning 31,000 acres recently bought by his father or himself in Counties

and Mayo, Ardilaun was placed in a difficult and unusual position during the

Land War The Land War () was a period of agrarian agitation in rural History of Ireland (1801–1923), Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the firs ...

of the 1880s. Tenant farmers had started

rent strike A rent strike, sometimes known as a tenants strike or a renters strike, is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants agree to collectively withhold paying some or all of their rent to the ...

s and boycotting against absentee landlords who cared little about their estates. In contrast, Ardilaun lived at Ashford for much of the year, and invested heavily in his lands, but was forced to sell land from the 1880s and saw two of his bailiffs assassinated in what became known as the Lough Mask Murders in January 1882. His attempt to preserve the landscape at Muckross, near

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

, County Kerry, from 1899 for aesthetic reasons was under challenge as soon as 1905. With the Digby family he was a joint owner of the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; , ) or The Arans ( ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony (Ireland), barony of Aran in ...

that were compulsorily purchased by the Congested Districts Board in 1916.

Philanthropy

Ardilaun was, like many in the

Guinness family The Guinness family is an extensive Irish family known for its achievements in brewing, banking, politics, and religious ministry. The brewing branch is particularly well known among the general public for producing the dry stout beer Guinnes ...

, a generous philanthropist, devoting himself to a number of public causes, including the restoration of Marsh's Library in Dublin and the extension of the city's Coombe Women's Hospital. In buying and keeping intact the estate around Muckross House in 1899, he assisted the movement to preserve the lake and mountain landscape around

, now a major tourist destination. From 1875 he was a sponsor of the "''Dublin Artizan's Dwellings Company''", which built cottages for poor Dubliners at reasonable rents, and was the forerunner of the Iveagh Trust later set up by his brother Edward. In his best-known achievement, he also bought, landscaped, and gave to the capital, the central public park of

, where his statue commissioned by the city can be seen opposite the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

. To do so he sponsored a

Private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or are ...

that was passed as the ''Saint Stephen’s Green (Dublin) Act 1877'', and after the landscaping it was formally opened to the public on 27 July 1880. It has been maintained since then by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland (now the

Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) (; legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Government of Ireland, Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of owned and ren ...

) In 1913 Ardilaun was approached by Sir Hugh Lane, who wanted to build a new modern art gallery in the Green where the statue of Lord Ardilaun was placed. Ardilaun replied: :"''Are you mad? I will not have myself stand sentry to a picture palace like some giddy huckster''". An intermission in Ardilaun's philanthropy provoked Yeats's powerful poem "To a Wealthy Man...." He was also elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the Royal Dublin Society from 1892 to 1913.

In "Ulysses"

''Ulysses'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

includes several references to Ardilaun, as Joyce considered him to be a prime Irish example of Victorian conventional respectability. The

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian 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., a locom ...

brewed by the "cunning brothers"—he and his brother Lord Iveagh—was: "''a crystal cup full of the foamy ebon ale which the noble twin brothers Bungiveagh and Bungardilaun brew ever in their divine alevats, cunning as the sons of deathless Leda. For they garner the succulent berries of the hop and mass and sift and bruise and brew them and they mix therewith sour juices and bring the must to the sacred fire and cease not night or day from their toil, those cunning brothers, lords of the vat.''" In the "Nighttown" section, the breasts of a girl who is undressing are "Two ardilauns", meaning "two high islands", a play on the Gaelic meaning of the word. In 1902-03 Joyce also wrote literary reviews in the Irish ''Daily Express'' which was owned by Ardilaun.

Personal life

In 1871, Lord Ardilaun married Lady Olivia Charlotte Hedges-White, daughter of The 3rd Earl of Bantry, whose family seat was

Bantry House Bantry House is a historic house with gardens in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. Originally built in the early 18th century, it has been owned and occupied by the White family (formerly Earls of Bantry) since the mid-18th century. Opened to the ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

; this was a happy but childless marriage. He died on 20 January 1915 at his home at St Anne's,

Raheny Raheny () is a northern suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, halfway from the city centre to Howth. It is centred on a historic settlement, first documented in 570 AD (Mervyn Archdall (Irish antiquary), Mervyn Archdall). The district ...

, and was buried at All Saints Church, Raheny, whose construction he had sponsored. Those present at the funeral included representatives of the Royal Dublin Society, of which Lord Ardilaun was president for many years, the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance, and the Primrose League. His

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

y became extinct at his death, but the

baronetcy 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 14th ...

devolved upon his nephew Algernon. On his widow's death Saint Anne's Park passed to Algernon's cousin Rev. Benjamin Plunket former Bishop of Meath, who sold most of the estate to

in 1937, keeping Sybil Hill as his residence. The corporation has preserved much of the estate as one of Dublin's most important public parks, though the house itself burnt down in 1943, with the remaining lands used for housing. The outcome of Ardilaun's extensive tree plantings came into focus a century after his death, when in 2019 the park was given

Green Flag Green Flag Limited is a British roadside assistance and vehicle recovery provider, which is part of the Direct Line Group. Formed in 1971, as the National Breakdown Recovery Club, as an alternative to the AA and RAC, it used a network of ...

status, and was listed as one of the world's top five urban public parks."St Anne’s Park in Dublin named among world’s top five parks" Irish Times, 26 October 2019
/ref>

Notes

References