The Earl Of Iveagh

Edward Guinness, later the 1st Earl of lveagh, was the driving force behind the expansion of Guinness from being a small Dublin brewer when he joined the firm in 18 6 8, to the largest single brewery in the world making 1.2m bulk barrels by 1886. Guinness, with the help of a highly competent professional management team, invested over £1m in that period in new facilities, all from the brewery's own retained profits. In 1886, the company was floated on the stock market valued at £6m. In scenes reminiscent of the mid 1980s, the offer was twenty times oversubscribed, and the shares rose to a 60% premium on their first day's trading. The family and their banking advisers retained control from the start. Guinness started with a significant minority stake after the float but gradually bought his way back to a controlling stake.

He gradually handed over control of the company to his professional managers in the 1890s, remaining as chairman until the First World War. Created Earl of lveagh in 1919, he devoted his final years to charitable work. In 1925, he rescued Kenwood House in London and filled it with a large part of his huge art collection. When he died in 1927, it was granted to the Nation intact.

Iveagh left an estate valued at over £13.4m, or around £3.6bn in today's terms.