Ireland, Guinness Trade Ledgers, 1860-1960

About the Ireland, Guinness Trade Ledgers, 1860-1960

General collection information

This collection contains images of trade ledgers produced by the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, and England between 1860 and 1960. The brewery's sales and personnel records were kept in printed ledger books. Entries were often handwritten during the earlier years included in the collection, and as the years progressed, the ledger entries were typed.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

The records in this collection can be used to verify that your ancestor did business with the Guinness Brewery at a particular location and time. The records also may be useful for someone researching the financial history of Guinness Brewery.

Collection in context

The records were created by employees working at the Guinness Brewery. The ledgers are high-quality primary sources, and the original documents are housed at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

Arthur Guinness founded the Guinness Brewery on 31 December, 1759, and by 1880, Guinness was the largest brewery in the world. The company had about 3,000 employees by 1900 who were among the highest-paid people in Dublin. Guinness rarely fired its employees and felt it was socially and economically important to treat them with dignity.

By 1900, the brewery's campus in Dublin had grown to 60 acres, and the company had its own fire brigade and an internal railway system. By the 1930s, Guinness was the seventh largest company in the world, and its first brewery outside Ireland was opened in London in 1936.

During the 1950s, Guinness expanded its operations by establishing Guinness Exports Limited to bottle and distribute its beer internationally. It also introduced a nitrogen dispensing system that put Guinness on tap in bars. In 1962, the production of Guinness occurred outside Great Britain for the first time at a new brewery in Nigeria.

Bibliography

Birtles, Katie. "A brief history of Ireland's national drink, Guinness." Trafalgar.com. Accessed 6 October, 2023. https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/a-brief-history-of-irelands-national-drink-guinness/.

Carmichael Digital Projects. "Guinness: Employment." Accessed 6 October, 2023. https://carmichaeldigitalprojects.org/ireland/exhibits/show/my-goodness--my-guinness/employment.

Guinness Storehouse. "Explore the Archives." Accessed 6 October, 2023. https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/discover#explore.

---. "The Story of Guinness." Accessed 6 October, 2023. https://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/discover/story-of-guinness.