Guinness

A Family Succession

By: Arthur Edward Guinness, Antonia Hart

Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien, Arthur Edward Guinness

Growing up at Farmleigh, a country house outside Dublin, Arthur Edward Guinness – Ned for short – was fascinated by the secrets and legends that surrounded the early generations of his famous family of brewers.

Against a backdrop of epic and convulsive times in Ireland and Britain, he outlines the struggles and passions of his ancestors, who went from obscurity in Kildare to the pinnacle of Irish and British society.

Each generation confronted new challenges until the dramatic events when the author's great-great-grandfather bought out his glamorous older brother and floated Guinness on the stock exchange. Overnight Edward Cecil Guinness became Ireland's richest man.

This is a tale in which brewing genius, sibling rivalry, bounteous philanthropy and astonishing social mobility are interwoven with historic national events, including the Act of Union, Catholic Emancipation, the Famine, the Home Rule movement, the Dublin Lockout and ultimately Irish independence. It is the inside story, as told by Ned Guinness.

©2025 Arthur Edward Guinness (P)2026 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'This book is far more than an account of the commercial success of Guinness; it's also a love letter to the city which produced it.' (Irish Independent)

'A fantastic book.' (RTE The Business Radio)