If you've been on Netflix recently, you've probably noticed House of Guinness, which is trending in the top 10 in the US. From Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, comes another drama about a dysfunctional family. This time, Knight trades 1900s Birmingham for 19th-century Dublin to tell the story of the Guinness family, one of Europe's most famous and enduring dynasties.

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House of Guinness begins in the aftermath of Sir Benjamin Guinness's death. Credited with the success of the Guinness brewery, his death has a huge impact on his four adult children, Arthur (Anthony Boyle), Edward (Louis Partridge), Anne (Emily Fairn), and Benjamin (Fionn O'Shea), as well as the people who work and interact with the phenomenon that is Guinness.

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So, in case you're like me and want to know more about the real Guinness family that's depicted in House of Guinness (and what the show got right and wrong), here are 17 real-life facts:

There are obviously spoilers ahead for House of Guinness Season 1!

1. First, while House of Guinness begins with the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness, the story of the family actually starts with Arthur Guinness in 1759, when he founded the brewery. Namely, he notably signed a 9,000-year lease for the then-disused brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin for an annual rent of £45. According to Guinness, at the time the property comprised "four acres with a copper, a kieve, a mill, two malthouses, stabling for twelve horses, and a loft to hold 200 tons of hay."

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As of 2025, they are technically 266 years into their lease at St. James's Gate, where Guinness is still brewed; however, the property has expanded well beyond the original four acres to 50 acres. Since the company has now purchased the land outright, the original lease is no longer needed. 

You can go take a tour at the Guinness Storehouse, where you learn all about how Guinness is brewed and then shipped globally, as well as the history of the Guinness family.

2. Following Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness's death in 1868, aka when House of Guinness begins, his will stated that he left the brewery to Arthur and Edward, and they were instructed to carry on the Guinness brewery together. According to the book, Guinness: A Family Succession, per Town & Country, he specified that "if one brother wanted out or was declared bankrupt, then his share passed to the other."

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In Guinness: A Family Succession, Benjamin's decision on how to leave the brewery to his children is described as "a manner that showed his particular intention to safeguard the interests of the brewery, almost as if it were a fifth child."

3. At the time, Benjamin's will was reported to be the biggest in Ireland, with his estate estimated at about £1.1 million at the time. In his will, he also allocated the properties to his various children. According to Guinness: A Family Succession, Benjamin left the family home at St. Anne's to Arthur. The Kerry, Limerick, and Kilkenny estates were inherited by Benjamin Lee, aka Lee. "No. 80," which was the home at 80 St. Stephen's Green, was left to Edward, alongside the property and mills in Kilmainham, which was west of St. James's Gate.

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While Arthur, Lee, and Edward got property and money, Anne was left no property but £30,000 to be allocated to investments that would "benefit her."

"Although everyone knew Sir Benjamin Guinness was rich, it was only when he died that the full extent of his wealth became apparent," states author Arthur Edward Guinness in Guinness: A Family Succession.

Notably, St. Anne's Park in Dublin was once part of the Guinness family's estate. 

4. Arthur Guinness and Lady Olivia Charlotte Hedges-White were married in 1871; however, they did not have any children. In The Guinnesses: The Untold Story of Ireland's Most Successful Family, it's speculated that Arthur was gay, which is depicted in House of Guinness. Author Joe Joyce writes that Arthur and Olivia were "arranged in advance as a marriage blanche, meaning there would be no sex, implying strongly that Sir Arthur was gay."

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Lady Olivia was the daughter of the 3rd Earl of Bantry. Her family notably held a seat with Bantry House in County Cork.

5. In 1868, Arthur Guinness was elected a Conservative Member of Parliament for Dublin. Ultimately, he only held the seat for a year, as his election was "void," according to transcripts from the UK parliament. He was accused of bankrolling people to bribe freemen, aka protestants who had inherited voting rights. Per the transcript, "Mr. Justice Keogh reported that eleven freemen, who were named, had received bribes, and that there was evidence that between twenty and thirty, whose names he could not give, had also received bribes." It continued, saying "over 200 freemen" had reportedly agreed to serve Arthur in exchange for payment.

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As shown in House of Guinness, the judge ultimately found the scheme was created behind Arthur's back, and he was exonerated. However, he was still barred from standing in another election during the incumbent parliament. 

He was reelected during the next election in 1874.

6. Author Joe Joyce in The Guinnesses: The Untold Story of Ireland's Most Successful Family suggests that Lady Olivia was the reason that Arthur ultimately left the Guinness company in 1876 to focus on politics. It was then that he was elevated to Baron Ardilaun of Ashford in the County of Galway, according to the London Gazette in April 1880. He became known as Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun.

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Since Arthur had no children, the title of Baron Ardilaun became extinct upon his death in 1915; however, the Guinness baronetcy continues, with Sir Kenelm Edward Lee Guinness, born in 1962, being the 5th Baronet. This was a title that started with Sir Benjamin Guinness.

Author James Joyce notably references Ardilaun in Ulysses. He also mentions the porter brewed by "cunning brothers."

7. When Arthur left the company, Edward Guinness bought out his older brother's share for a reported £600,000. Edward is credited with expanding the brewery into the global phenomenon that it became. At age 29, he became the sole owner of the company. By 1879, under Edward's leadership, Guinness was reportedly brewing 565,000 hogsheads of stout. One hogshead of beer is roughly 54 gallons.

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Only seven years later, Guinness was brewing 907,000 hogsheads globally. 

As of 2025, "Over 10 million glasses of Guinness stout are enjoyed every single day around the world, and 1,883,200,000 pints are sold every year – that's 1.8 billion, to put it another way," according to Guinness's website.

8. Edward is notably known for taking the Guinness company public on the London Stock Exchange in 1886. At the time, Edward sold a 65% stake in the company for "an initial public offering for six million pounds, valuing the company at about 9.23 million pounds," according to Yahoo Finance. This move made him the richest man in Ireland at the time.

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According to Esquire, one of his smartest (and at the time, divisive) decisions was not to invest in pubs, which would've tied Guinness to a fixed set of bars with limited reach. Instead, he invested in research, quality control, and expanding distribution.

9. In 1862, Guinness began using its signature harp on labels as a way to identify Guinness as an Irish beer, as it began to expand outside of Dublin. The Guinness Harp is based on the Brian Boru Harp, a symbol of Irish culture and the arts that is currently on display at Trinity College. In 1876, Guinness trademarked the harp. Therefore, when the Irish Free State chose the same harp as its emblem in 1922, the harp had to be flipped, as Guinness owned the trademark.

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From 1862 until 2015, the Guinness Harp has been redesigned seven times, with the present logo being called the Guinness Hero Harp. 

10. According to Guinness: The 250-Year Quest for the Perfect Pint, Guinness first arrived in the US in bottles starting in the 19th century. "Guinness world travellers" were hired by the company, with the purpose of traveling the globe and telling people to try a Guinness.

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In 1948, Guinness opened a brewery in New York; however, it closed after only six years.

According to the Guinness website, in 2025, "Guinness beer is available in well over 100 countries worldwide and is brewed in over 40. Some of the biggest-selling markets for Guinness Draught include Great Britain, Ireland, Nigeria, US and Cameroon."

11. Edward did marry Adelaide Maria Guinness, his third cousin, in 1873. As shown in House of Guinness, her nickname was "Dodo," and she was a descendant of the banking side of the Guinness family. In The Guinnesses: The Untold Story of Ireland's Most Successful Family, author Joe Joyce describes her as "petite, with dark hair drawn neatly back, soft-spoken but his equal in energy and vitality and three years older than [Edward] was."

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According to the book, her "ambitious mother" was reportedly not too happy that she decided to marry Edward, with Joyce writing, "his considerable wealth seemingly was little compensation in her eyes for the fact that he was still a mere brewer."

12. As depicted in House of Guinness, Anne Guinness married Rev. William Plunket in 1863, with William eventually becoming the Archbishop of Dublin in the Church of Ireland. Anne's dowry of £49,000 reportedly allowed Plunket to extend their home at Old Connaught House, a now-famous 18th-century home in Dublin that you can still visit.

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They had two sons and four daughters together.

13. Anne is best known for her work with St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, which her father began restoring during his lifetime. She went on to establish the St. Patrick's nursing home in 1876, which became a training center for Church of Ireland nurses. Part of her work with nurses goes hand-in-hand with Anne suffering from a "mysterious illness" for most of her life. It's now believed to have been a degenerative illness, which she died from at age 50.

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If you visit St. Stephen's Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, there is a memorial to Anne, which features the inscription, "I was thirsty and ye gave me drink."

14. Arthur and Edward were also known for their philanthropy. Arthur devoted himself to several causes, like the restoration of Marsh's Library in Dublin, and he donated £150,000 toward the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He also bought, landscaped, and donated to Dublin the public park of St. Stephen's Green.

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Arthur was also a benefactor of the Coombe Lying-In (Maternity) Hospital, having donated to their expansion.

15. As for Edward, he established the Guinness and Iveagh Trusts, which "provide homes for the poor in London and Dublin," per Guinness. According to the Iveagh Trust, Edward donated £250,000 "to establish the Guinness Trust in London and Dublin, which oversaw the building of the Iveagh Trust's first communities at Thomas Court and Kevin Street/New Bride Street." It's believed Edward donated £1 million to housing projects and other causes during his lifetime. In 2025, the trust still provides over 1,800 homes around Dublin.

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In 1908, Edward also donated the back garden of 80 St. Stephens Green, known as the "Iveagh Gardens," to University College Dublin, where it has been a public park ever since.

He also created the public gardens known as St. Patrick's Park after purchasing and then donating the land to St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

16. Like House of Guinness suggests, Benjamin "Lee" Guinness was believed to have a gambling addiction, which is reportedly why his father only left him £20,000 in his will. According to Guinness: A Family Succession, the money needed to be used for a very specific reason, with the will allegedly stating, "I do earnestly and affectionately enjoin on my said dear son not to expend any portion of the said sum of £20,000 thus placed at his disposal save for the purpose of purchasing military promotion or of eventually settling himself in some civil occupation should he leave the military service or in the purchase of real estates."

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Lee's army career and having had to be bailed out of debts by his father were reportedly the reasons he was ruled out of inheriting the brewery alongside Arthur and Edward.

17. And finally, the House of Guinness Season 1 finale ends with an attempt on Arthur's life by Patrick Cochrane. While it's unclear if this really happened, there were several threats made on Arthur's life during this time period. According to The Guinnesses: The Untold Story of Ireland's Most Successful Family, Arthur reportedly received an anonymous letter in 1872 that accused him of insulting a pro-Catholic newspaper. A threat was also directed at Justice Keough, who was the judge in Arthur's bribery case. The letter apparently read, "We have a person hired to shoot you and him and no mistake so take warnin [sic] in time."

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The Freeman's Journal, Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper, reportedly dismissed the threat.

House of Guinness is streaming on Netflix now.