House of Guinness, debuting September 25 on Netflix, delves into the intricate family drama unfolding behind Ireland’s legendary beer brand.
This eight-part series chronicles the lives of the four adult offspring of Benjamin, the Guinness brewery’s patriarch and once Ireland’s wealthiest individual, as they strive to manage the renowned brewery and the family’s estates following his death in 1868, amidst ongoing clashes between Catholics and Protestants. Executive producer Ivana Lowell notes that the portrayal of the Guinness family draws from stories passed down through generations within the family.
Here is an examination of the true historical events that provided inspiration for House of Guinness.
Guinness’s Position Amidst Catholic-Protestant Tensions
At Benjamin Guinness’s funeral depicted in the show, a eulogist proclaims, “If ever there was anyone who could bring the Catholic and Protestants of this great city together, it was this man.” This statement is presented ironically, immediately following a montage of individuals hurling bottles at his coffin. Throughout the series, Irish Catholics are shown expressing fervent discontent and participating in protests, accusing the Protestant Guinness family of perceived favoritism towards the British. Some of the family’s efforts are directed towards alleviating the religious divisions within the city.
During the 1860s, Ireland was under the dominion of the predominantly Protestant English, and the nation’s Catholic populace encountered discrimination. The Guinnesses were Protestant, and while Guinness was brewed in Ireland, it was bottled in England.
Steven Knight, creator of House of Guinness and Peaky Blinders, states, “Benjamin, the patriarch, served as a Tory MP for Dublin, and he consistently cast votes favoring Ireland’s integration into Britain.”
Bill Yenne, author of Guinness: The 250 Year Quest for the Perfect Pint, asserts that the Guinness family was “resolutely pro-England.” He explains, “The affluent commercial families maintained more connections with England than they did with much of Ireland.” Numerous Guinness family members resided in England, held titles within the British aristocracy, and some even became Protestant clergymen. “They exhibited profound loyalty to the crown.”
Insights into the Fenians
In the series, Edward Cecil Guinness (portrayed by Louis Partridge), Benjamin Guinness’s third son—who assumed management of the brewery after his father’s passing—endeavors to establish an open dialogue with Ellen Cochrane (Niamh McCormack), a representative of the Fenians. This revolutionary movement in Ireland emerged from the potato famine of the 1840s and 1850s and served as a precursor to the IRA, the 20th-century terrorist organization infamous for planting bombs in public spaces across Ireland and England.
Knight explains that Edward’s overture was part of a broader strategy to extend an olive branch and pacify potential adversaries.
“The Fenians might have harbored intentions of causing harm to the Guinness family,” Yenne comments. Indeed, Knight reveals that the Guinness family claims the Guinness brewery feared attacks from Fenians and arsonists even before Benjamin Guinness’s death.
Christopher Klein, author of a book on Fenians titled When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland’s Freedom, states that Fenians “aimed to completely rid themselves of the British.”
The plot point involving Ellen’s rebel brother being arrested and sent to America is inspired by the Cuba Five, a contingent of Irish rebels released from British prisons and dispatched to the U.S. According to Knight, the British government desired greater American intervention to suppress the Fenian movement in New York City and Boston, but American politicians were reluctant to risk losing Catholic votes. The British released several Fenian prisoners from Dublin, allowing them to travel to America, hoping to foster goodwill with Catholic voters and encourage the American government to take stronger action against the Irish attempting to invade Canada.
Indeed, Irish individuals did attempt to invade Canada in the 1860s and 1870s—on five separate occasions. Klein explains, “The underlying strategy was to, in essence, ransom Canada, a British territory, for Irish independence, which, predictably, did not materialize.”
Immigrants forming part of the Irish diaspora in the U.S. raised funds, purchased firearms, and dispatched them to Ireland to prepare for launching a revolution.
Klein notes, “There were Irish exiles who had fought in the Civil War and viewed it as a proving ground for the revolution they truly wished to initiate in Ireland.” He continues, “Thus, in 1865 and 1866, you actually had some veterans of the Civil War attempting to clandestinely return to Ireland to participate in the upcoming revolution there.”
Regarding Edward’s romantic liaison with Cochrane in the show, there is no historical evidence confirming this event, but Knight perceives it as a logical development to maximize entertainment value. As he puts it, “It’s a fictional element I’ve devised, but no one can conclusively prove it didn’t occur.”
The series concludes with a cliffhanger, an assassination attempt on Edward’s brother Arthur (Anthony Boyle) as he campaigns for Parliament; viewers are left uncertain of Arthur’s fate. The real Arthur, however, survived, represented the brewery’s interests in Parliament for a year, and passed away in 1915. Knight explains that the show’s focus is less on Guinness’s trajectory to success—as it was already immensely popular during the period depicted—and more on how the family navigates the surrounding drama: “The audience is well aware that Guinness achieved incredible success. We all know this because Guinness remains prominent today. So the suspense isn’t about whether they will ultimately prevail. It’s a cliffhanger concerning how they manage to survive.”