From Newspapers to Netflix

Written by the makers of the hit show ‘Peaky Blinders’, this Thursday 25th September the eight-episode series, House of Guinness will start on Netflix. beginning in the aftermath of Sir Benjamin Guinness's death in 1868, the series explores how it shaped the lives of his four children – Anne, Arthur, Benjamin, and Edward – and the legacy of Guinness itself. It may well be fictionalized in parts, but the story of this Irish brewing dynasty is fascinating and the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive are teeming with stories of them and the worlds in which they lived. Here the Nation newspaper in May 1868 reports on the death of Benjamin Lee Guinness (you will see this in the Netflix Series!):

FUNERAL OF THE LATE SIR BENJAMIN LEE GUINNESS. The funeral of Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness took place this morning, and was attended by citizens of every class and creed, from the highest to the lowest, who were present to testify to the respect and esteem in which the deceased was held as an excellent employer and prince merchant. The hour named for the starting of the funeral procession was nine o'clock, but for at least an hour previous the Clontarf road was lined with carriages, driving to St. Annes the summer residence of ,the deceased baronet. The carriages of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant and the Earl of Mayo, Chief Secretary, took part in the cortege. The Association of the Licensed Grocers and Vintners was largely represented. About half-past nine o'clock the coffin containing the remains of the deceased was placed in the hearse. The coffin was made of polished oak, elaborately carved, and embellished with gilt brass mountings, and bore the following inscription : "Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, Bart., M.P., Born 1st Nov., 1798 Died 19th May, 1868." The funeral cortege passed through the gate leading to the Green Lanes of Clontarf, but did not assume a sufficiently regular form until it reached the Howth road, where it was met by the employees of the deceased gentleman, a stalwart body of men, numbering nearly one thousand, and wearing white hat-bands and scarfs, which took up a position in front of the procession, and proceeded on foot to the cemetery. These were followed by the hearse, which was drawn by four horses, wearing black plumes, after which came two mourning coaches, containing the immediate relatives of the deceased, and including his three sons, Sir Arthur Guinness, Bart., Mr. Benjamin L. Guinness, Royal Life Guards, and Mr. Cecil E. Guinness. The carriages containing the servants and household of the late baronet came next, followed immediately by the carriages of the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Mayo, and the Lord Mayor. The carriages of the nobility, gentry, and leading citizens succeeded the Lord Mayor's equipage, and extended to the length of at least two miles.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )