Arthur Grattan Guinness 1813 - 1897

Arthur Grattan Guinness (FRCS Dublin 1835 MD Glasgow 1836) 1813 - 1897 was an orthodox physician who converted to homeopathy, Physician to Raheny and Clontarf Dispensaries Dublin, Medical Attendant of Dublin Homeopathic Institution, Physician to Exeter Homeopathic Dispensary and member of the English Homeopathy Association and member of the British Homeopathic Society.

This article has been expanded and enlarged by the *amazing detective work done by Rhoda Ui Chonaire in her article The Luther Legacy: homeopathy in Ireland in the 19th Century in the The Journal of the Irish Society of Homeopaths Anniversary Issue October 2010 pages 17 - 24. See also The Journal of the Irish Society of Homeopaths Volume 14, No: 2, Autumn 2012, The Luther Legacy 4: members of the 1845 Committee of the Irish Homeopathic Society.

Arthur Guinness practiced as a Medical Officer at the Clontarf and Raheny Dispensary in 1843, and he converted to homeopathy *when he met Carl Wilhelm Luther and *spoke to his friend William Wilde about it. Arthur Guinness *studied homeopathy under Paul Francois Curie, and *practiced at the Dublin Homeopathic Dispensary alongside Carl Wilhelm Luther and Gustavus Adolphus Luther.

Arthur Grattan Guinness, Benjamin Lee Guinness and William Smyth Guinness were *3 of the original 41 members of the Irish Homeopathic Society, alongside Gustav Luther and Carl Wilhelm Luther.** **

In 1855 Arthur Guinness was Medical Officer at the Exeter Homeopathic Dispensary alongside William Kingdon, and at 3 Dixfield, and in Cheltenham as a Provincial Referee for the Caledonian Insurance Company in 1866 - *1868, and in *1869 Arthur Guinness is a Medical Attendant at the Cheltenham Homeopathic Dispensary *alongside William Gwillim, and in *1874, Arthur Guinness is a Medical officer at the Oxford Homeopathic Dispensary, and in 1884, he was still living in Oxford.

In 1858 Arthur Guinness attended a Festival in aid of the London Homeopathic Hospital with many Aristocratic and minor gentry patrons attending, alongside Dr. Ayerst, William Bayes, Hugh Cameron, Edward Charles Chepmell, William Vallancy Drury, George Napoleon Epps, Edward Hamilton, Frantz Hartmann, Amos Henriques, Joseph Kidd, Thomas Robinson Leadam, J Bell Metcalfe, Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, Henry Reynolds, John Rutherford Russell, Charles Caulfield Tuckey, George Wyld, Stephen Yeldham, and many others.

Arthur Grattan Guinness was the *son of John Grattan Guinness, the youngest son of Arthur Guinness 1st, and Susana Hutton (who died in 1826). Arthur Grattan Guinness *married Amelia Henrietta D’Esterre in 1835 and had 8 children including Elizabeth Smyth Guinness

• 1927 (for a further explanation of this complicated family see Rhoda Ui Chonaire’s well researched article The Luther Legacy: homeopathy in Ireland in the 19th Century in the The Journal of the Irish Society of Homeopaths Anniversary Issue October 2010 pages 17 - 24).

Arthur Guinness had held the post of Physician to the Raheny Dispensary for eight years as an allopathic doctor, and for the first time in the British Isles. Arthur Guinness resigned immediately upon his conversion to homeopathy, but was immediately re-elected to that post as a homeopathic physician in 1846 by a unanimous vote of the subscribers. Arthur Guinness submitted his article Report of the Raheny Dispensary to The British Journal of Homeopathy that same year. Arthur Guinness wrote to John James Drysdale, the editor of the British Journal of Homeopathy, to inform him of his re-election to office.

Two years later, in 1848, Arthur Guinness left Clontarf to move to Exeter, to the dismay of his patients.

Arthur Guinness is listed in The Homeopathic Medical Directory of Great Britain and Ireland in 1871, and in The Homeopathic Medical Directory in 1872.

Arthur Guinness’ Obituary is in The Journal of the British Homeopathic Society in 1897.

Arthur Guinness wrote My Conversion to Homeopathy; Together with Remarks on the Question of the Dose, A Lecture on Homeopathy,

Of interest:

Benjamin Lee Guinness, *cousin of Arthur Grattan Guinness, is listed as a member of the Irish Homeopathic Society in St. Anne’s, Clontarf in A concise view of the system of homeopathy in 1845, and he was also a member of The Association for the Protection of Homeopathic Students and Practitioners in 1852, as was his son Benjamin Lee Guinness Jnr, and ?another son Arthur Lee Guinness. Benjamin Lee Guinness is reviewed in some detail by Rhoda Ui Chonaire in the *Autumn 2012 journal article. He is probably one of the most prominent members of the Guinness family, as he took over the running of the famous brewery founded by his grandfather, Arthur, in 1839.

William Smyth Guinness, *****cousin of Arthur Grattan Guinness, is listed as a member of the Irish Homeopathic Society at Rathdrum in A concise view of the system of homeopathy in 1845. Rev. William Smyth Guinness is reviewed in some detail by Rhoda Ui Chonaire in the *Autumn 2012 journal article.