 His father was John Grattan Guinness (1783–1850), Arthur's youngest son, who was an officer in the Madras Army of the East India Company.His mother was Jane Lucretia D'Esterre, whose first husband Captain John Norcot D'Esterre had been killed in a duel in 1815 by Daniel O'Connell, who remorsefully paid her an annuity.In 1853 at 17 years old, and somewhat backslidden in his faith, Guinness went to sea.