There is no other company, industry, or premises more closely aligned—indeed almost synonymous—with its hometown than Guinness’s St. James’s Gate Brewery and the city of Dublin. From the company’s modest beginnings in 1759 to its heyday in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its continued strength into the twenty-first century, Guinness has had an enormous influence over the city’s economic, social, and cultural life. In this warm and fascinating piece of history, Tony Corcoran examines the magnitude of the brewery’s operation, and the working lives of the thousands of Dubliners who have depended on Guinness for their livelihood, either directly or indirectly. The company’s unusually progressive treatment of its workers—health care, training, and housing—is revealed in detail, as is the Guinness family’s philanthropy and compassion towards the less well-off residents of the city. Tracing Guinness’s progressive attitudes to their roots, Corcoran also explores the important roles of the strong-willed women in each generation of the Guinness dynasty. Guinness is a labor of love, full of anecdotes, humor, and historical insights into one of Dublin’s most important and best-loved institutions. "Whenever I bleed, I am always surprised to see that my blood is not black. Certainly, when you consider that I was born into two Guinness families, had two Guinness grandfathers and five Guinness uncles, and was on the premises of Guinness before I could walk, I am as much a product of Guinness as the black stuff itself." —Tony Corcoran There is no other company, industry, or premises more closely aligned—indeed almost synonymous—with its hometown than Guinness’s St. James’s Gate Brewery and the city of Dublin. From the company’s modest beginnings in 1759 to its heyday in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its continued strength into the twenty-first century, Guinness has had an enormous influence over the city’s economic, social, and cultural life. In this warm and fascinating piece of history, Tony Corcoran examines the magnitude of the brewery’s operation, and the working lives of the thousands of Dubliners who have depended on Guinness for their livelihood, either directly or indirectly. The company’s unusually progressive treatment of its workers—health care, training, and housing—is revealed in detail, as is the Guinness family’s philanthropy and compassion towards the less well-off residents of the city. Tracing Guinness’s progressive attitudes to their roots, Corcoran also explores the important roles of the strong-willed women in each generation of the Guinness dynasty. A labor of love, full of anecdotes, humor, and historical insights into one of Dublin’s most important and best-loved institutions . “Whenever I bleed, I am always surprised to see that my blood is not black. Certainly, when you consider that I was born into two Guinness families, had two Guinness grandfathers and five Guinness uncles, and was on the premises of Guinness before I could walk, I am as much a product of Guinness as the black stuff itself.” —Tony Corcoran Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. Tony Corcoran ’s family has worked for generations for Guinness. He lives in Dublin. Guinness The Greatest Brewery on Earth — Its History, People, and Beer By Tony Corcoran Skyhorse Publishing Copyright © 2013 Tony Corcoran All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62636-076-1 Contents FOREWORD, FROM THE AUTHOR, ABBREVIATED GUINNESS FAMILY TREE, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, INTRODUCTION, 1 - IN THE BEGINNING, 2 - THE GUINNESS BREWERY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 3 - THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY, 4 - GUINNESS SOCIAL INITIATIVES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY QUEENâ&8364;(tm)S DAY, 5 - THE GUINNESS ATHLETIC UNION, 6 - THE IVEAGH TRUST, 7 - THE BREWERY IN THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES, 8 - THE PERSONNEL STRUCTURE IN GUINNESS, 9 - INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN GUINNESSES, 10 - PASSING ON THE CARING, 11 - WORKING ON SHIFT, CONCLUSION - LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, ENDNOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, CHAPTER 1 IN THE BEGINNING THE FAMILY HISTORY OF THE GUINNESSES After almost three centuries, it must be acknowledged that there exists in the Guinness family a unique set of qualities. These include an astute business sense, appreciation of the efforts of others, inquiring minds, patronage of the arts, theatre, and literature, a scientific approach to agriculture, broadly human