Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun

Arthur Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun (1 November 1840 – 20 January 1915) was an Irish businessman, politician, and philanthropist, best known for giving St Stephen's Green to the people of Dublin.

Political life

Born at St Anne's, Clontarf, near Dublin, the fourth Arthur was the great-grandson of the original Arthur Guinness. He was the eldest son of Sir Benjamin Guinness, 1st Baronet, and elder brother of Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College Dublin, and in 1868 succeeded his father as second Baronet. That same year he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the City of Dublin, a seat he held for only a year but which he won again in 1874.

A supporter of Disraeli's 'one nation' conservatism, his politics were typical of "constructive unionism", the belief that the union between Ireland and Britain should be more beneficial to the people of Ireland after centuries of difficulties. In 1872 he was a sponsor of the "Irish Exhibition" at Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin, which was arranged to promote Irish trade.

In 1871 he married Olivia Hedges-White, daughter of the Earl of Bantry. This was a happy but childless marriage.

After withdrawing from the Guinness company in 1876, when he sold his half-share to his brother Edward for £600,000, Sir Arthur Guinness was in 1880 created Baron Ardilaun, of Ashford in the County of Galway. His home there was at Ashford Castle on Lough Corrib, and his title derived from the Gaelic 'Ard Ilain', a 'high island' on the lake.

Philanthropy

He was, like many in the Guinness family, a generous philanthropist, devoting himself to a number of public causes, including the restoration of Marsh's Library in Dublin and the extension of the city's Coombe Women's Hospital. In buying and keeping intact the estate around Muckross House in 1899, he assisted the movement to preserve the lake and mountain landscape around Killarney, now a major tourist destination. From 1875 he was a sponsor of the "Dublin Artizan's Dwellings Company", which built cottages for poor Dubliners at reasonable rents; the forerunner of the Iveagh Trust which was set up by his brother Edward.

He also bought, landscaped and gave to the capital the central public park of St Stephen's Green, his best-known achievement, where his statue can be seen opposite the Royal College of Surgeons.

President of the Royal Dublin Society (1892-1913), Lord Ardilaun died in 1915 at his home at St Anne's, Raheny, and was buried at All Saints, Raheny, County Dublin. His barony became extinct at his death, but the baronetcy devolved upon his nephew. On his widow's death St. Anne's passed to cousins who sold it to Dublin Corporation in the 1930s. The corporation has preserved it as one of Dublin's most important public parks, but the house itself burnt down in 1943.

References

*Wilson, Derek. "Dark and Light" Weidenfeld, London 1998. ISBN 0-297-81718-3
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]
*Sharkey, Joan. "St. Anne's The Story of a Guinness Estate" Woodfield Press, Dublin 2002. ISBN 9780953429349
* [http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/2262/8520/1/jssisiVolVIIIPartLXII_508522.pdf Dublin Artizans' Dwellings Company assessed in 1884]