How women in and around the Guinness family helped to transform the life and fabric of Dublin and the social history of Ireland.

In the 19th century Guinness not only became the world’s largest brewery, it was also a pioneering force in providing good conditions for its workforce. This approach shaped social programmes in Dublin and further afield, transforming healthcare, social housing and urban improvement. But it was the women of the family who first promulgated that culture.

Women such as the sisters Anne and Rebecca Lee Guinness, who championed support for women’s health surprisingly early on. Women like Adelaide, Lady Iveagh and Olive, Lady Ardilaun, who wielded influence at the heart of Ireland's elite. And women who worked in fields such as fashion, medicine and the markets, all part of Guinness’s wider Dublin ecosystem.

From the bestselling historian Antonia Hart, and based on new archival research, Guinness Women tells a riveting new story of the impact made by remarkable women in and around the early generations of the great brewing family.

About The Author

Antonia Hart is an Irish historian, author, and journalist. She is the coauthor of The Irish Times bestseller Guinness: A Family Succession (2025), and author of Ghost Signs of Dublin and The Commercial Lives of Irish Women 1850–1922: Business as Usual. She lives in Dublin.