The True Story Behind House of Guinness: Family Feud and Ireland’s Tensions

Netflix’s House of Guinness, an eight-part docudrama due Sept. 25 on Netflix, centers on the four adult children of Benjamin Guinness, the patriarch who transformed a family brewery into a global icon and, at one point, the wealthiest man in Ireland. The series follows the siblings as they wrestle with running the Guinness brewery and the family’s estate after Benjamin’s death in 1868, against a backdrop of sectarian tension between Catholics and Protestants in Dublin.

Based on stories the Guinness family passed down and recounted by Ivana Lowell, an executive producer, the series portrays a Protestant dynasty whose reach extended into England and Irish politics. In a funeral scene, a eulogizer notes, "If ever there was anyone who could bring the Catholic and Protestants of this great city together, it was this man," a line framed by a montage of bottles being hurled at the coffin. Across the series, Irish Catholics are depicted marching in protests accusing the Guinness family of cozying up to Britain. The family’s philanthropy is shown as aimed at easing sectarian divides in the city. In the 1860s, Ireland was under English rule and Catholics faced discrimination; Guinness manufactured beer in Ireland but bottled it in England. Benjamin Guinness, depicted as a Tory MP for Dublin, is shown voting in favor of Ireland remaining part of Britain. The family’s footprint is described as vast: many relatives lived in England, held British aristocratic titles, and some served as Protestant clergy. The narrative emphasizes their loyalty to the crown in a period when commerce elites often maintained cross-border ties for influence.

On screen, Edward Cecil Guinness, the third son who takes the reins after his father’s death, seeks to open a channel of communication with Ellen Cochrane, who represents the Fenian movement that emerged from the potato famine era and later helped to fuel Irish independence campaigns. Producer Steven Knight says Edward’s outreach is part of a broader effort to avert conflicts that could threaten the family’s legacy. "The Fenians may have had designs on doing nasty things to the Guinness family," Knight says. Scholar Bill Yenne notes the Fenians’ aim to cast off the British altogether, while pointing out that the Guinness clan had long-standing ties to England. "They very much were loyal to the crown," Yenne adds. The plot point involving Ellen’s rebel brother’s arrest and exile to America is described by Knight as inspired by the Cuba Five, a group of Irish rebels released from British prisons and sent to the United States to foster goodwill with Catholic voters and to pressure Britain over Fenian activity in Canada.

Historically, Irish exiles and Civil War veterans sought to fund and spark uprisings from abroad, and the narrative here suggests a dramatic parallel: in the 1860s and 1870s, Irish-Americans funded efforts to influence the struggle for independence. Knight explains that British authorities hoped American politics would crack down on Irish efforts in Canada, but U.S. politicians weighed Catholic-voter dynamics and did not uniformly endorse British aims. The show notes that Ireland did experience attempts to invade Canada during that period, driven by factions seeking independence under British dominion. The Cuba Five angle is presented as a dramatic device tied to those real-world tensions rather than a strict documentary account.

As for the romance between Edward and Cochrane, Knight says it is fiction crafted to heighten entertainment value. He adds that there is no proof of such a relationship, but it serves to intensify the power struggles surrounding the Guinness family. The finale leaves a cliffhanger: an attempted attack on Arthur Guinness, who is shown running for Parliament. In actual history, Arthur would go on to represent the brewery’s interests for a year before dying in 1915. Knight says the series is less about whether the Guinnesses would prevail than about how they survive the intrafamilial and external pressures surrounding them.

Ultimately, the Netflix project aims to illuminate the real history behind a family saga that has long captured popular imagination. While Guinness is a household name today, the show places its brands and fortunes within a larger narrative about religion, loyalty, and political risk in 19th-century Ireland. The producers emphasize that the series is grounded in documented tensions and the era’s geopolitical crosswinds, using the Guinness story to explore how a dynastic family navigates crisis when dynasty, religion, and national identity collide. The project draws on reporting that situates the Guinness lineage within a broader history of Irish politics, industry, and diaspora, and it is designed to appeal to viewers who crave historical drama grounded in verifiable context.