Guinness heir launches family history at Kenwood House

House of Guinness stars James Norton and Dervla Kirwan and explores the death of Dublin businessman Sir Benjamin Guinness and the impact of his will on his four children; Arthur, Edward, Anne and Ben.

It lands on the streaming channel on September 25, and the following week, their real life descendant launches his own family biography at the Hampstead mansion bought by his great-great grandfather.

Arthur Edward Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh is the current head of the Guinness family and will talk about GUINNESS: A Family Succession, at Kenwood House on October 2.

GUINNESS: A Family Succession is published by Scala on September 20. (Image: Scala) The afternoon tea in the Old Kitchen between is hosted by the Friends of Kenwood and Scala Arts & Heritage, who publish the book on September 20.

Billed as ‘The true story of how the Guinness family created the largest brewery in the world,’ the book delves into family letters, archives and photographs to tell the inside story of how the first four generations of the family created the iconic beer brand.

Like the Netflix series, it’s a dramatic story of contrasting personalities and family succession in the Victorian era.

Kenwood House was bought by Guinness brewing magnate Edward Guinness in 1925 and bequeathed to the nation. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) On screen, Louis Partridge plays Edward the youngest son of Sir Benjamin Guinness who presided over the Dublin brewery founded in 1759.

On his father’s death in 1868 Edward took over management at the tender age of 20 and ran the brewery with his brother Arthur for a decade.

He proved himself to be a brilliant businessman and bought out Arthur’s share, becoming sole proprietor at the age of 29.

Louis Patridge plays Edward Guinness who helped to build Guinness into one of the biggest beer brands in the world. (Image: Netflix) Edward built Guinness into the world’s largest brewery and when he floated it on the London Stock Exchange in 1886 he became a multi-millionaire and retired at 38 a rich man.

Like other rich men he collected art and, enobled as the 1st Earl of Iveagh, he bought Old Masters by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Reynolds and Turner that hang today at Kenwood House.

The committed philanthropist also funded social housing and hospital projects, and public parks, and invested in property including several properties in Hampstead.

He became active in the community as a preservationist, which made him the obvious person to turn to when Kenwood House was threatened with development in the 1920s.

A memorial stone at Kenwood House marking the efforts of Sir Arthur Crosfield to save Kenwood and its grounds from development. (Image: Wikimedia Commons) In 1922, the Kenwood Preservation Council, spearheaded by Sir Arthur Crosfield, bought part of the estate including the ponds, when it was threatened with being sold to a building syndicate.

And in 1925 he helped persuade Lord Iveagh to buy the house and 74 surrounding acres from the 6th Earl of Mansfield. Sadly the contents of the house had been sold at auction three years earlier, but the empty villa was the perfect place to display his paintings.

He personally selected 63 of the finest pictures from his collection and had ambitions to arrange them within the house himself.

But he died in 1927 before the project was complete and in 1929 The Iveagh Bequest Act stipulated that Kenwood should be open free of charge to the public with the “mansion and its contents … preserved as a fine example of the artistic home of a gentleman of the eighteenth century.”

The Hampstead Heath landmark remains open year round, free of charge under the care of English Heritage.

Polly Powell, Publisher and Owner of Scala and Batsford said of Lord Iveagh’s book: “With the advent of this major new series, it is important that the family – who know more than most about the extraordinary legacy of their forebears – tell the story of the Guinness dynasty.”