Sir Arthur Guinness

Sir Arthur Guinness (http://guinness.msk.ru/i/arthur.jpg)

Arthur Guinness was born in 1725 in Celbridge, County Kildare Ireland. He was born to a family of brewers and began working in the family brewery at age 14. He worked to earn money to get away and open his own brewery.

When he was 34, he moved to Leixlip just outside of Kildare in the same county. He started working with his brother to make ale that would rival the best selling stout in Ireland at the time, a small beer from County Wexford.

Arthur worked at this until 1758 when he went to Dublin to find a bigger brewery. He gave his brother Edward Cecil Guinness the 80% of the brewery that he owned, which was added to the 20% that Edward owned.

When he went to Dublin, he found a small rundown brewery that had access to the river Liffey which supplied the water needed to brew the beer (the water now comes from the Wicklow Mountains) and was on a plot of land with 24 acres. He asked the realtor for a lease and the realtor gave him an irresistible deal: 9000 years at 45£ a year and an introductory 100£. He began rebuilding the brewery and had it done by the beginning of 1759. He was given the 100£ by his godfather, the Archbishop of Kildare.

He tried to get water from the river, but it was hard because the Council of Dublin would not let him get the water. One time when the Council was making a human barricade, he ran down with a pickax; he was that passionate. Some may not consider Arthur Guinness a hero because he was a brewer, but he is a hero because he had to fight for what he believed in to make it happen. He was an honorable man even though he was a brewer.

He worked at his brewing for a long time, getting his whole family involved. He married Olivia Whitmore and when he died, he gave all of his property to her. He had twenty-one children, many of whom went into brewing. His eldest son, Arthur Guinness, Jr., was given the brewery when Olivia died. Arthur, Jr. married Anna Lee and they had the second world famous Guinness, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, who was sole owner of the brewery for many years after his father died. He was also a member of the parliament during two major revolts. He became Lord Mayor of Dublin during the rule of Queen Victoria of England.

The Guinness Company created The Guinness Book of World Records in 1955 to settle a pub dispute. One night there was a dispute over what was the fastest game bird. A worker at Guinness was there and mentioned it at his job the next day. It was quickly sent up to the management who decided to make a book of all of the greatest feats ever done.

Guinness stout is now one of the most famous beers in the world and the company was really advanced by Benjamin Lee Guinness. The Guinness beer lines in Ireland alone, if straightened out, would stretch longer than the Great Wall of China. The factory at St. James Gate has not had any major renovations or changes since the mid to late eighteenth century.

Arthur Guinness made the whole country of Ireland proud to say they have one of the top ten beers in the world. I have chosen him as my hero because he inspires me to fight for what I believe in, even if everyone else does not think that it is right.