House of Guinness Recap Episode 4: Wardrobes and Train Tickets

House of Guinness Season 1 Episode 4

Since their father’s will was read, Edward has chafed at the thought, nay, the reality, that the old man successfully chained him to his brother Arthur. Arthur found a measure of freedom following his marriage of convenience. Olivia knew and did not care that Arthur had lovers. With Edward busy with the Guinness American expansion, Arthur even found himself running his own electoral campaign. Yet, as Anne declared, Arthur could not be left alone, and House of Guinness gave us that rather pointed image of Arthur on Edward’s horse, with Edward holding the reins and leading Arthur home. Subtle, thy name is not House of Guinness.

Yes, the marriage of f and forget pushed through. It was a rather joyous affair for husband and wife. Arthur genuinely adored Olivia, who played the part of the happy bride with wicked humour and, when they fell on Rafferty, lusty eyes. Arthur finally had someone that he could talk to frankly, without the need to guard his thoughts and his words, a buddy, though an exceedingly well compensated one. He was happy.

The one dark cloud happened when Arthur realised that his brother Edward invited Fenians to his wedding. Though Arthur marched to Ellen and Patrick’s table, as Edward anticipated, Arthur could not completely lose it when the whole of Dublin society was in the room. Neither could Patrick, who matched Arthur’s disdain with cold hatred. Cool headed like Edward, Ellen declared that she had no interest in ruining Arthur’s reputation. The Guinness family could play a role in moving people toward a place where a free Ireland would be inevitable. To Arthur, engagement with the Fenians was a betrayal of their father. To Edward, this was business.

Marriage was business to Edward as well, and successful as he was in selling beer, finding a suitable wife proved more challenging. The list Anne and Aunt Agnes had was long, and most of the names have been crossed out. Benjamin, looking spiffy in his new military uniform, was tasked to ask Adelaide Guinness (yes, a cousin) for a dance as a pretext to introduce her to Edward. Clever Adelaide figured out what was about to happen and approached Benjamin herself, and tartly turned down Edward. I enjoyed Benjamin’s ‘Who?’ when Adelaide alluded to Jane Austen, but to be honest I am struggling with this idea that Edward’s personality was so off-putting to women that even with Louis Partridge’s face, they were running away from him. The man charmed a beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed Fenian leader. Also, unless they thought he had dead bodies in the basement, why would Dublin ladies not wish to marry the man who signed the checks for the Guinness empire? Was Olivia the only practical lady in society? 

With Arthur supposedly settled in his marriage, Edward turned his energies to America. Byron Hedges arrived in New York and quickly discovered that being a Catholic Irishman could prove unsafe around certain people. By luck, and after being chased and losing his luggage, he ended up on Eliza Street and was taken to his cousin William, who happened to be an influential leader in the Irish community. Byron explained that his mother was a Guinness and showed Edward’s letter of authorisation. Byron’s father died for the Fenian cause, William could not readily dismiss him. He was a natural salesman — he even sold that Edward wanted to build bridges with the Fenians (and you know what, given Edward’s respect for Ellen, this may not entirely be a lie) — and William agreed to support him. Byron promised to cut him in on the profits. 

And so, two months later, Edward was hardly coming home. He and Rafferty were working day and night to fulfil the advance orders for Christmas, some of them from America. It was at his office that an increasingly weakened Anne found him late at night with concerning news about Arthur — he has been engaging in vote buying.

The scheme was simple — in secret, the Tory Party took over what was supposed to be a printing shop. Whoever cast a postal ballot for Arthur would be given a used train ticket. The voter would then take the ticket to the shop, and a man hidden behind a wardrobe would give him five pounds. 

Edward was furious, and again ranted at how his father chained him to Arthur. He went to Bonnie Champion to find out where Arthur was, and though Bonnie eventually told him, it was not before Edward promised to look into his not at all subtle demand for more money, not just to keep Arthur’s sexuality a secret, but his train ticket scheme as well.

Arthur was equally angry when Edward showed up at his secret flat, rented by a friend of a friend, and where he and his lover Arty (Lord Arthur Pelham Clinton) would meet up. He defended his train ticket scheme by saying he was told that was how things were done. Arty, the godson of Liberal Party leader William Gladstone, was obviously Arthur’s source of this vote buying wisdom. Edward may have slammed Arthur against the wall downstairs and called him ‘Chaos fkn chained to me’, but he was polite when he was introduced to Arty. Later, he told his horse that he had never seen Arthur happier. 

And so we circled back to how the episode opened, the marriage between Arthur and Olivia. Olivia was sharp and cutting of Edward, she even alluded to Adelaide turning him down — again, this was the man who controlled the Guinness empire, notable that Olivia was comfortable with potentially angering him — and gave every appearance of being fully in Arthur’s corner. Edward called them well matched before leaving. Once alone, however, Olivia changed and sharply asked Arthur about what he had hoped to keep secret from her, the vote buying scheme. Arthur may have enjoyed Olivia’s impertinence, especially when directed at others, but would he put up with it directed at him in their married life? 

Rating: B

Strays

👑Lol at Potter reading Benjamin a protocol book on how to ask a lady to dance.

👑Aw Christine thought Benjamin was coming over to ask her to dance.

👑There was another lady who offered to ‘rescue’ Benjamin, whom Aunt Agnes approved of. But, Benjamin scared her away by telling her this fictional story of a chambermaid he has fallen in love with. What Benjamin wanted was an increased annual allowance and a house in Chelsea; in exchange, he would marry someone the family found suitable. For context, Benjamin’s demand was four thousand pounds a year; Olivia, Arthur’s new wife, had an allowance of fifteen thousand pounds a year, that was on top of Arthur paying off what must have been her father’s considerable debts. Within the context of the family wealth, Benjamin did not ask for much.

👑Anne, who fell on the dance floor at Arthur and Olivia’s wedding, told Rafferty about her miscarriage in Cloonboo. Rafferty rather harshly told her she had no affection for him, they simply came together briefly then came apart – then barely a minute later had his hands on her waist, helping her up in her weakened state. Methinks there is affection here. 

👑Anne told Rafferty that she just wanted someone to hold her when she fell. That cold husband of hers certainly was not going to. Months later, when they met again at the brewery, Rafferty declared that if she fell, he would catch her and hold her. 

👑Patrick told Ellen he came to the wedding for recon and one day return to plant a dynamite on the stairs.

👑Uncle Henry was not happy with the Fenians being invited.

👑Anne’s husband’s brother acted as Arthur’s running mate.

👑Edward confused at the notion of having neighbours -- here was a man who has only ever lived in massive houses where he could scream and only the servants would hear him, if at all -- was a moment of levity in an otherwise tense confrontation with his brother Arthur.

Writer: Steven Knight

Director: Tom Shankland

Original Air Date: September 25, 2025

You can view RecapLab’s coverage of House of Guinness via this link. 

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