Henry Guinness

{{Short description|Irish engineer, banker and politician (1858–1945)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = Senator

| term_start = 11 December 1922

| term_end = 12 December 1934

| party = Independent

| office1 = Sheriff of County Dublin

| term_start1 = 1899

| term_end1 = 1899

| predecessor1 = Sir George Brooke

| successor1 = James William Cusack

| birth_date = {{birth date|1858|11|24|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Stillorgan, County Dublin, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1945|4|4|1858|11|24|df=yes}}

| death_place = Tunbridge Wells, England

| education = Winchester College

| alma_mater = Royal Indian Engineering College

| spouse = {{marriage|Mary Bainbridge|1900}}

| children = 4, including Judy Guinness

}}

Henry Seymour Guinness (24 November 1858 – 4 April 1945) was an Irish engineer, banker and politician.

Early life

Guinness was born at Burton Hall, Stillorgan, County Dublin, the family home, on 24 November 1858. He was a son of Emelina (née Brown) Guinness and Henry Guinness (1829–1893), Esq. J.P., who had been the Dublin manager of the Guinness Mahon bank. His sister, Lucy Madeleine Guinness, married Philip de László, the Anglo-Hungarian painter known particularly for his portraits of royal and aristocratic personages.{{cite web|url=http://delaszloarchivetrust.com/index.php?cid=8&PHPSESSID=ce76a116336047d8ffcbdf82af5de54d|title=The de Laszlo Archive Trust|work=delaszloarchivetrust.com}}

His paternal grandfather was Robert Rundell Guinness, founder of the Guinness Mahon bank, and his maternal grandfather was James Brown, Esq. of Edinburgh.

He was educated at Winchester College and then the Royal Indian Engineering College.{{cite book |last1=Walford |first1=Edward |title=The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland |date=1860 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |page=586 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuHIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA586 |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=en}}

Career

Guinness worked as an engineer in the Indian Public Works in from 1880 to 1895. He served as a lieutenant in the Burma State Railway Volunteer Rifles in the Third Anglo-Burmese War. Back in Ireland he was a director of the Great Northern Railway from 1902 to 1924, director of the Bank of Ireland, and assistant managing director at Guinness from 1924 to 1930.

=Public life=

He was appointed Sheriff of County Dublin in 1899.{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/guinness-henry-seymour-a3682|title=Guinness, Henry Seymour|work=Dictionary of Irish Biography|last=Boylan|first=Shaun|access-date=26 December 2023}} A supporter of the Irish Unionist Alliance until 1921, he was chosen to represent the Irish business world as a Senator in the Senate of Southern Ireland, which failed to function.[http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/h1921.htm Notes on the SSI]

During the Irish War of Independence Guinness arranged for the Sinn Féin led Dublin Corporation to be funded by the Bank of Ireland, as rates due from the Local Government Board had been withheld in 1920. W. T. Cosgrave chaired the British-run Local Government Board finance committee for Dublin, while being at the same time the Minister for Local Government of the Irish Republic. In 1951 he recalled that "I went to the Bank of Ireland and there interviewed two of the Directors, H.S. Guinness and Andrew Jameson. They eventually gave the accommodation so urgently required for the Corporation. It was for this reason that when President of the Executive Council at a later stage, I nominated these two gentlemen as Senators."Liam Cosgrave, File BMH.WS0268, Bureau of Military History, published 2003; online 2012

Guinness was nominated as an independent member of the first Irish Senate of the new Irish Free State for 12 years at the 1922 election.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Henry-Seymour-Guinness.S.1922-12-06/|title=Henry Guinness|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=28 February 2009}}{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1922-12-06/9/|title=President's nominees for Seanad|publisher=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=6 December 1922|access-date=26 December 2023}} He supported measures such as a regular financial system and also the proposal by W. B. Yeats for the local translation of ancient Irish manuscripts.[http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie:80/S/0001/S.0001.192304190008.html Senate debate on Irish manuscripts, April 1923] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609125436/http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/S/0001/S.0001.192304190008.html |date=2011-06-09 }}, oireachtas-debates.gov.ie. He did not seek re-election in 1934.

In 1953, he published The Guinness Family, written along with Brian Guinness, along with a number of essays and short books on the history of the Guinness family.{{cite web |title=The Guinness Family. by Guinness, Henry Seymour & Guinness, Brian: (1953) {{!}} Owl Books |url=https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Guinness-Family-Henry-Seymour-Brian-London/746752709/bd |website=www.abebooks.co.uk |publisher=Lund Humphries & Co Ltd. |access-date=4 March 2020}} The originals and supporting notes are at the National Library of Ireland.{{cite web|last1=Guinness |first1=Henry Seymour |title=The Guinness family / compiled by Henry Seymour Guinness and Brian Guinness; arranged by M. Galwey. |url=http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000172522 |website=catalogue.nli.ie |publisher=National Library of Ireland |access-date=4 March 2020}}

Personal life

In 1900, he was married to Mary Bainbridge (1871–1954), the second daughter of Robert Stagg Bainbridge, Esq. of Keverstone, County Durham. Together, Mary and Henry were the parents of four children, including:{{cite book |last1=Fox-Davies |first1=Arthur Charles |title=Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour |date=1910 |publisher=T.C. & E.C. Jack |page=707 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2VHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA707 |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage |date=1916 |publisher=Kelly's Directories |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ujg4TVs_3RkC&pg=PA56 |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=en}}

Moira Emelina Guinness (b. 1902), who married Capt. Arthur Lafone Frank Hills, OBE, in 1923.{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage and Titles of Courtesy |date=1933 |publisher=Dean & Son. |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dW8YzEcI7IC |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=en}}
Rachel Ursula Isolde Guinness (b. 1906), who married Prince John Bryant Digby de Mahé, the only son of Prince Charles Digby Mahé de Chenal de la Bourdonnais, in 1931.{{cite book |last1=Cambridge |first1=University of |title=Cambridge University List of Members |date=1976 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=599 |isbn=9780521209281 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5vkAAAAMAAJ |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Major H H The Prince de MAHE Royal Field Artillery. |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1088604?descriptiontype=Full&ref=WO+339/34703 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives (United Kingdom) |access-date=4 March 2020}}
Patricia Guinness (1909–2002), who married Frederick Charles Leopold Ullstein, a descendant of publisher Leopold Ullstein.{{cite book |last1=Robson |first1=Jeremy |title=Under Cover: A Poet's Life in Publishing |date=2018 |publisher=Biteback Publishing |isbn=978-1-78590-418-9 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EchdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT93 |access-date=4 March 2020 |language=en}}
Heather Seymour "Judy" Guinness (1910–1952), an Olympic medalist fencer who married twice.[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/mar/29/10-sporting-gestures "The 10 most sporting gestures"], The Guardian, 29 March 2009

He lived at Burton Hall, Stillorgan, for many years. In March 1923, during the Irish Civil War, the anti-Treaty republicans tried to burn it down, albeit without success.[http://www.IrelandOldNews.com/Dublin/1923/MAR.html Freeman's Journal, 28 March 1923]