By Pierra Willix
Copyright metro
The Guinness family have faced a string of tragedies in the last century (Picture: Getty/ Netflix)
Today will mark 300 years since Arthur Guinness, the inventor of the famous stout, was born.
In 1759 he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin and while his business took off, it was his grandson Benjamin who oversaw its expansion.
In his lifetime the businessman made a fortune, eventually leaving behind £162million in today’s money by the time of his death in 1868.
His will sparked fury between his children – Arthur, Edward, Anne and Benjamin – who were each left maddened at what they were left and, in the case of two of them, being absolutely nothing.
Their story is told in Netflix’s new period drama House of Guinness, which was created by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight.
The series starts soon after Sir Benjamin’s death, a time when ‘the powerful and debaucherous titular family is on the precipice of greatness’.
Arthur Guinness founded the famous brewery in 1759 (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
‘It’s the extraordinary story of a family who happens to be the inheritors of the biggest brewery in the world,’ Knight has said.
‘I’m just in awe of their zest for life — their lust for life, often literally,’ he added. However, in the years since the Guinness family amassed their wealth, they’ve also been plagued by a series of tragedies.
Who are the most notable Guinness family members?
The family attended the premiere of the new Netflix series House of Guinness this week (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/ Getty Images)
While the Guinness name is synonymous with the beer, they were also known for their achievements in banking, politics, and religious ministry.
An Anglo-Irish Protestant family, descendants of Richard Guinness (born c. 1690), they became part of what is known in Ireland as the Protestant Ascendancy.
Aside from the founder and his descendants who ran the business, other Guinness family members have become known for their roles in the arts, including model Jasmine Guinness, as well as Daphne Guinness.
In the 1920s, Arthur’s great-great-granddaughters Oonagh, Aileen and Maureen were also celebrated as the ‘Golden Guinness Girls’ of British society.
The current head of the family is the Earl of Iveagh.
What tragedies have they faced?
The ‘family curse’ seemingly began with the murder of Baron Moyne, Walter Edward Guinness, in 1944 (Picture: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images)
After a string of shocking and tragic deaths in the Guinness family over the decades, claims of a curse emerged, with some in the family convinced it was an ever-present threat.
The origins of the ‘curse’ appear to have begun in the 1940s when Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, who was serving as Britain’s resident minister in the Middle East, was held hostage by members of the Jewish terrorist group, Lehi, in Cairo.
He was shot three times and died within a few hours.
Other Guinness family members would go on to die under tragic circumstances.
Lady Henrietta Guinness plunged to her death in a suicide leap in Italy in 1978 (Picture: Daily Sketch/ Associated Newspapers)
In 1966, Tara Browne, the son of Oonagh Guinness, died aged 21 in a 1966 car crash in South Kensington, which inspired a line in the Beatles’ song A Day in the Life.
Lady Henrietta Guinness – who once famously said ‘If I had been poor, I would have been happy’ – fell from a bridge in Italy in 1978. That same year, her relative Peter Guinness, aged just 4, was killed in a car crash in Norfolk.
In 1986, Olivia Shannon, granddaughter of Lady Honour Guinness, died aged 22 of an overdose in Christ Church College, Oxford, where she had just completed her Finals.
Tara Browne died in a car crash in 1966 (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
Two years after John Guinness – whose wife had been kidnapped from their Dublin home two years earlier – fell to his death from Mount Snowdon after slipping on some ice.
Also in 1988, Sheridan Blackwood, the 5th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, died of an AIDS-related illness.
In 1989, Rose Nugent (niece of Lady Henrietta Guinness), 31, was travelling to her mother’s birthday party near their Berkshire country home when she was thrown from her horse.
Ivana Lowell has addressed rumours of the curse in the past (Picture: Thomas Iannaccone/ WWD/ Penske Media via Getty Images)
The premature deaths went on to plague the family, with Catherine Guinness’ husband Robert Hesketh dying from an overdose at a party in 2004.
Just a few years ago tragedy struck again when 19-year-old heiress Honor Uloth was found unconscious at a pool in Chichester Harbour in Sussex.
The 20-year-old was the eldest daughter of Lady Louisa Jane Guinness, and her husband Rupert Uloth, the former editor of Country Life Magazine.
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A coroner ruled her death an accident after she was found at the bottom of the pool during a family barbecue.
Several other family members have died in car accidents and drug overdoses.
What has been said about the ‘family curse’?
Ivana Lowell, the daughter of Lady Caroline Blackwood and a direct descendant of Arthur Guinness, has previously addressed rumours of the curse.
‘It is sometimes said there is a curse on the Guinness family,’ she said.
‘I’m not so sure – look at any large family and you will find tragedy – but for us the combination of money, flamboyancy, alcohol and talent has been, in some ways, a recipe for disaster.’
How much are the Guinness family worth today?
The current head of the family is Arthur Edward Rory Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh (Picture: Rex/ Shutterstock)
The Guinness family are among the richest families in the world, nearly three centuries after the famous beer was first brewed.
Their net worth was last estimated to be between £916 million to £983 million by early 2025.
Historian Turtle Bunbury, who has a podcast Behind the Guinness Gates, has previously detailed how the modern-day Guinness’ now try to avoid the limelight.
‘These days they stay out of the papers by and large, they’re very discreet,’ he said.
‘Most people wouldn’t know who they are.
‘It’s not like the time of the Glorious Guinness Girls in the 30s, 40s, 50s, who were in the papers and would have been considered royalty then.’
Speaking about using the family as the basis of his series, he’s said: ‘The Guinness dynasty is known the world over – wealth, poverty, power, influence, and great tragedy are all intertwined to create a rich tapestry of material to draw from.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by their stories and am excited to bring the characters to life for the world to see.’
House of Guinness is now streaming on Netflix.
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