Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont (22 October 1833 – 20 August 1899) was aBritish Army officer and politician. A member of theRoyal Engineers, he produced several inventions, including atunnel boring machine which bore his name, and theBeaumont–Adams revolver.

Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont
Born	(1833-10-22)October 22, 1833
Died	August 20, 1899(1899-08-20) (aged 65)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/ branch	British Army
Years of service	1852–1877
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Royal Engineers
Battles / wars	Crimean War,Indian Mutiny
Awards	Indian Mutiny Medal Turkish Crimean War medal
Other work	LiberalMember of Parliament forSouth Durham, 1868-1880

Beaumont was the son of Edward Blackett Beaumont and Jane Lee. He was born inDarfield, South Yorkshire^[1] and educated at theHarrow School,Harrow on the Hill,England.

Beaumont served in the Royal Engineers and was a contemporary ofGeneral Charles George Gordon; his name appeared directly before Gordon's in the Army Lists from the date of their first commissioning on 23 June 1852.

As alieutenant, Beaumont saw service during theCrimean War, and was one of only a small number of British officers who served withTurkish forces along theDanube, serving with the (local) rank ofCaptain in the Turkish Contingent Engineers, for which service he was awarded theTurkish Crimean War medal rather than theBritish Crimean War Medal.

In 1858, Beaumont again saw action in theIndian Mutiny, during which he served on the staff of the Royal Engineers, distinguishing himself on 14 March 1858 atLucknow and being awarded theIndian Mutiny Medal with clasp.

Promoted to captain in 1866, Beaumont in conjunction with Captain F.E. Grover made efforts to getballooning adopted by the British Army, Beaumont having witnessed the use of balloons in theAmerican Civil War.

Beaumont was promoted tomajor in 1872, and in 1873 was placed in charge ofrailways at the Royal Arsenal,Woolwich. While in the post he worked on methods for generatinghydrogen for balloon experiments and was described by his contemporaries as "a man of remarkably inventive talent."

In 1875, Beaumont filed a patent for a pneumatic tunnelling machine which could cut through chalk at the rate of 200 yards per week. After further development of this design withCaptain Thomas English, two Beaumont-English tunnelling machines were adopted for use byEdward Watkin in his attempt to dig aChannel Tunnel in 1880. By the time the project was stopped in early 1882, the two machines had successfully bored over 3,000 yards under the Channel without difficulty.^[2]

In 1868, Beaumont was elected one of the twoLiberal Members of Parliament forSouth Durham, a seat he held until 1880.

Beaumont retired from the Army shortly after his promotion to Colonel in 1877, and died on 20 August 1899.

• John Hick

• "Biography-Col. F.E.B. Beaumont, RE".Nineteenth Century British and Indian Armies and their Soldiers. Archived fromthe original on 10 January 2008. Retrieved7 February 2008.
• Driver, Hugh (1997).The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903-1914.Royal Historical Society.ISBN 0-86193-234-X.

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Frederick Beaumont