Stories of Guinness: Succession - Lord Iveagh

The day begins with the extraordinary origin story of one of the world’s most recognisable consumer brands. In Guinness: A Family Succession, Arthur Edward Guinness — the 4th Earl of Iveagh — recounts the dramatic rise of his ancestors from modest beginnings in eighteenth-century Dublin to the creation of the largest brewery in the world.

Drawing on family archives and rare historical material, Lord Iveagh traces the first four generations of the dynasty against the turbulent backdrop of nineteenth-century Ireland — a time marked by famine, political upheaval and rapid social change. The story is one of ambition, innovation and family rivalry, culminating in the moment when Edward Cecil Guinness transformed the family enterprise into a global company and became Ireland’s richest man overnight.

More than a business history, the book also explores the Guinness family’s deep commitment to the social fabric of Dublin — from housing to civic philanthropy — revealing how one brewing enterprise reshaped a city and left an enduring mark on British and Irish society.