2A00:23C7:68B:C201:89B4:8CE8:A049:4E3D at 18:10, 16 October 2025

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{{Short description|Irish brewer and philanthropist (1798–1868)}}
{{Distinguish|Benjamin Guinness, 3rd Earl of Iveagh}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Sir Benjamin Guinness
|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|GBR|Bt|JP|DL|size=100}}
|image = Benjamin Guinness ILN.jpg
|caption = Guinness in 1865
|office = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br/> for [[Dublin City (UK Parliament constituency)|Dublin City]]
|term_start = 1865
|term_end = 1868
|predecessor = {{ubl|[[Sir Edward Grogan, 1st Baronet|Sir Edward Grogan]]|[[John Vance (MP)|John Vance]]}}
|successor = {{ubl|[[Jonathan Pim (1806–1885)|Jonathan Pim]]|[[Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun|Sir Arthur Guinness]]}}
|office2 = [[Lord Mayor of Dublin]]
|term_start2 = 1851
|term_end2 = 1852
|predecessor2 = [[John Reynolds (Dublin politician)|John Reynolds]]
|successor2 = [[John D'Arcy (politician)|John D'Arcy]]
|birth_date = 1 November 1798
|birth_place = [[Dublin]], Ireland
|death_date = {{death date and age|1868|5|19|1798|11|1|df=y}}
|death_place = [[London]], England
|party = [[Irish Conservative Party]]
|spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Guinness|1837}}
|children = [[Anne Lee Guinness|Anne]], [[Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun|Arthur]], Benjamin Lee Guinness II and [[Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh|Edward]]
|father = [[Arthur Guinness II]]
|relatives = [[Arthur Guinness]] (grandfather)
}}
'''Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet''' (1 November 1798 – 19 May 1868), was an [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]] brewer and philanthropist.

==Brewer==
Benjamin Lee Guinness was born on 1 November 1798 in [[Dublin]], Ireland. He was the third son of [[Arthur Guinness II|the second Arthur Guinness]], and his wife Anne Lee, and a grandson of the first [[Arthur Guinness|Arthur]], 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 [[Guinness family|the family]]. From 1855, when his father died, Guinness had become the wealthiest man in Ireland, having built up a considerable export trade and by continually enlarging his brewery.<ref>Lynch and Vaizey, ''Guinness's Brewery in the Irish Economy 1759–1876'' Cambridge 1960</ref>

In numbers, sales of his single and double [[stout]]s had been 78,000 [[hogshead]]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 (Ireland)|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.<ref>Lynch and Vaizey, op cit, pp199-200.</ref>

As a part of the brewery expansion, and to ensure deliveries, he invested in the new [[History of rail transport in Ireland|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]]).<ref>Lynch and Vaizey, op cit, pp 201-202.</ref>

==Dublin politician==
In 1851, he was elected the first [[Lord Mayor of Dublin]] under the reformed corporation.

In 1863 he was made an honorary [[LL.D.]] (Doctor of Laws) by [[Trinity College Dublin]], and on 15 April 1867 was created a [[baronet]] by patent, in addition to which, on 18 May 1867, by royal licence, he had a grant of [[supporters]] to his family arms.

Guinness was elected to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] in 1865 as a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] representative for [[Dublin City (UK Parliament constituency)|Dublin City]], serving until his death. His party's leader was [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]]. Previously, he had supported the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]], but in the 1860s, the Liberals proposed higher taxation on drinks such as beer. Before 1865, the [[Irish Conservative Party]] 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==
[[File:Ashford Castle's Guinness Tower.jpg|thumb|The Guinness Tower on the grounds of Ashford castle, built by Benjamin Guinness in 1864.]]
From 1860 to 1865, he undertook at his own expense, and without hiring an [[architect]], the restoration of the city's [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|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 [[Saint Patrick|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 [[Exposition Universelle (1867)|Paris Exhibition]] of 1867.

In recognition of his generosity, he was made a [[baronet]] in 1867. He was one of the [[Ecclesiastical Commissioners of Ireland|ecclesiastical commissioners for Ireland]], a governor of [[Simpson's Hospital, Dublin|Simpson's Hospital]], and vice-chairman of the Dublin Exhibition Palace. He died the following year at his [[Park Lane (road)|Park Lane]] London home. At the time of his death, he was engaged in the restoration of Archbishop [[Marsh's Library|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 [[County Mayo]], 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==
[[File:Benjamin Guinness.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Benjamin Guinness in the grounds of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin]]

On 24 February 1837, he married his first cousin Elizabeth Guinness, the third daughter of Edward Guinness of Dublin. They had three sons and a daughter, and lived at Beaumont House, [[Beaumont, Dublin|Beaumont]], in north [[County Dublin]]. In 1856, he bought what is now [[Iveagh House]] at 80 [[St Stephen's Green]]. Ashford Castle was described in [[William Wilde]]'s book on [[Lough Corrib]] in the 1860s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.galway.net/galwayguide/history/wrwilde/chapter6/moytura.html |title=Wilde on Ashford |access-date=7 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020419054944/http://www.galway.net/galwayguide/history/wrwilde/chapter6/moytura.html |archive-date=19 April 2002 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, [[Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun|Arthur]], who took over the brewery with his brother, the third son, [[Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh|Edward]]. His second son, Benjamin, married Henrietta, daughter of [[Thomas St Lawrence, 3rd Earl of Howth]]; they moved to England, where he was a captain in the [[Royal Horse Guards]]. His daughter [[Anne Lee Guinness|Anne]] married [[William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket|William, Lord Plunket]] in 1863. The present-day [[Guinness Baronets]] descend from his second son Benjamin, with their son Algernon Arthur St. Lawrence Lee Guinness (1883–1954) becoming Sir Algernon, 3rd Baronet on the death of his childless uncle, [[Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun|Lord Ardilaun]] in 1915.

He was buried in [[Mount Jerome Cemetery]], 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 Henry Foley|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==
{{Reflist}}
'''Attribution'''
*{{DNB|wstitle=Guinness, Benjamin Lee}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Benjamin Guinness}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080501225034/http://www.leighrayment.com/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]}}
*[http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/SirBenjaminLeeGuinness.php Benjamin Guinness in ''A Compendium of Irish Biography'' (1878)]

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Sir Edward Grogan, 1st Baronet|Sir Edward Grogan]]<br />[[John Vance (MP)|John Vance]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament for]] [[Dublin City (UK Parliament constituency)|Dublin City]]
|years = 1865–1868
|with = [[Jonathan Pim (1806–1885)|Jonathan Pim]]}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Jonathan Pim (1806–1885)|Jonathan Pim]]<br/>[[Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun|Sir Arthur Guinness]]}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Guinness Baronets|Baronet]]<br>'''(of Ashford)'''
|years = 1867–1868}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun|Arthur Edward Guinness]]}}
{{s-civ}}
{{s-bef|before = [[John Reynolds (Dublin politician)|John Reynolds]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Lord Mayor of Dublin]]
|years = 1851–1852}}
{{s-aft|after = [[John D'Arcy (politician)|John D'Arcy]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinness, Sir Benjamin, 1st Baronet}}
[[Category:Guinness family|Benjamin Lee Guinness]]
[[Category:Irish brewers]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:Irish Anglicans]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:People from Raheny]]
[[Category:Lord mayors of Dublin]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922)]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1865–1868]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Irish knights]]
[[Category:1798 births]]
[[Category:1868 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish businesspeople]]

Benjamin Guinness - Revision history

2A00:23C7:68B:C201:89B4:8CE8:A049:4E3D at 18:10, 16 October 2025