Sign of the Times: Arthur Guinness's First Signature?

There is good argument to say that research of any kind is a form of therapy, as it distracts the mind, gives a sense of purpose, and can be hugely rewarding when you find that little nugget of information that you were searching for, and often one you weren't! This is especially true of history research, and when it ties in with the specifics of your interested field the whole process can feel like something beyond basic escapism. It brings you to pleasantly solitary place where you feel that only you and this treasure of information exist—regardless of how many others have been there before and will be there afterwards. At that given time it is just you and that line of words or image, all alone but content and happy.

There is more than a little irony that much of the historical research we now do is online and virtual, as historians gaze at their screens at pixelated renderings of said images and words, which are zoomable, copyable, and gratefully accessible. Every second of every day more information is digitised and released on to the internet in the form of books, pamphlets and newspapers. It is normally to the latter that I am drawn as they are such an incredible, and huge, source of information for my interest. Indeed, a search of the word 'brewery' in a site such as The British Newspaper Archive, which also has old (and some new) Irish newspapers on it, gives a number of occurrences at near 7 million, although just a paltry half million of those are for Irish newspapers. An easy trawl through ...

But, as with all printed material, there is something a little sterile in actual newspapers themselves, given as they are mass printed publications which are one step removed from words actually written by those from our past. Or perhaps more fairly just a mechanised form of those words, but you get the gist of the argument I'm sure.

There is something more special about finding actual quill-or-pen-made writing and signatures, even if viewed from that screen on a desk in the dark and pleasant comfort of your own home. And even better if you find something 'new.'

-o-

Beyond the newspaper archives and online book depositories there are other sources for the history researcher, and a hugely important one for Irish historians came online in 2022.

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) is an all Ireland and international research partnership working to reconstruct and publish the items that were in the Public Record Office of Ireland which were destroyed in 1922 at the outset of the Civil War during the deeply contentious bombing of The Four Courts in Dublin.

This is from their website:

VRTI restores and reimagines a lost archival treasure through historical research, archival conservation, and technical innovation. It enriches the public understanding of Ireland’s past and reconnects a global audience to our documentary heritage. VRTI does not merely platform digital resources shared by partners. Rather, it creates something entirely new — a veritable Treasury of historical sources, newly translated, enhanced and contextualised — from the collections to which partner organisations provide access. VRTI is, in this sense, entirely unique in the world.

Since its launch it has added more and more information online in a relatively easily searchable format, albeit with the limits of OCR for deciphering printed (and, obviously, written) text.

Back in 2022 at its launch, I immediately started searching for brewing related information and came across quite a lot, although much of it was not entirely useful given it may just mention a named brewer. This is helpful to those who are trying to complete a picture of said brewer but generally it can be a little bit of a pointless search. But I did come across The Minute Book of Corporation of Brewers and Maltsters of the City of Dublin which contains 100 years of information on its members from 1702, a copy of which was held in the Guinness Archives so could be scanned for the VRTI. (I posted on social media at the time about the following but for some reason never committed to the semi-permanency of this site or noted its significance.)

On page 149 of the book, dated Tuesday the 24th of April 1759 and in the handwriting of the Dublin brewer Ephraim Thwaite the following is written:

At a meeting of the Master Wardens of the Brethren of the Corporation of Brewers & Maltsters of Dublin Pursuant to due Notice given, the Petition of Arthur Guinness being Lead[?] praying to be admitted into the franchisees & Liberties of their Corporation, he was accordingly admitted on paying a fine of two Guineas & this Hall adjourned till further notice.

It is signed by the following brewers James Taylor (Cork Bridge), Ephraim Thwaite (Cork Bridge), Thomas Greene (James's Gate), Hugh Trevor (Crooked Staff) and John Forster (Later Thomas Court - possibly with Francis Forster then on James's Street). Of note is that all of these are quite close together, as this area from The Liberties west of south central Dublin towards Dr. Steevens' Hospital—close to the current site of Heuston Station—was packed with breweries and distilleries at this time and for quite a few years to come.

On Tuesday the 26th of June 1759 Arthur was officially sworn in and on Saturday the 25th of August of that same year his now famous signature appears in the record book for the first time.

Now, given that the famous brewery lease wasn't signed until December of that year—that is the document, or a facsimile of which, that you can see embedded under glass on the floor of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin—then is this the first known signature of Arthur Guinness?

Possibly not, but it's probably the earliest one you can see with ease and it predates his lease by 4 months. (Of course, I'm taking liberties with the post's title, as it can't have been his very first signature!)

-o-

Just as a footnote of sorts, the current signature on Guinness products that closely resembles this one, if sadly a little less flamboyant, only started to be used on bottle labels from 1965. Prior to that it was slightly different and included the words 'Son & Co.' It's nice that they have kept the original Long S he used for the second last letter, but I do think they could have made it a bit more curlified!

Liam 

Virtual Treasury Record Info:

Creative Commons License CC BY-NC 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial): Guinness GDB/BR12/0002, 'Minute Book of Corporation of Brewers and Maltsters of the City of Dublin'. Accessed on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland <https://virtualtreasury.ie/item/Guinness-GDB-BR12-0002> PID: <https://arks.org/ark:/75929/i145700> (13 May 2026). Repository: Guinness Archive (Dublin).

Please note, all written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. Research link is shown above.  Labels and labels image are the authors. DO NOT STEAL THIS CONTENT!