The grandson of a Dublin goldbeater Samuel Guinness (1727-1795), he is the first of the "banking line" in the Guinness family. Richard was the son of Richard Guinness (1755-1829), a Dublin barrister and judge, and his wife Mary Darley, descended from a well-known Dublin house-building family.
He was a grand-nephew of the brewer Arthur Guinness, and the elder brother of Richard Samuel Guinness Member of Parliament. They had 3 children:
Mary Catherine (1823-1905), who married Sir Samuel Ferguson
Richard Seymour (1826-1915), a banker with from 1841
Henry (1829-1893), a banker with from 1851
He remarried to Mary Anne Moore in June 1840, and they had 7 children, including
Revd Robert Guinness (1841-1918)
6 daughters who died childless. In 1854 the firm moved to premises on College Green in the centre of Dublin, increasing its banking business, and adding lines in insurance and assurance.
Guinness was elected a life member of the Royal Dublin Society from 1821, joining its botany committee in 1823-1826. Its economy committee in 1831-1838. And its statistics committee in 1840-1841.
