English poet whose work helped to establish the heroic couplet as a dominant verse form. His most important works are The Metamorphosis of Tobacco (1602), a mock-heroic poem; Bosworth Field (1629), a long historical poem on the Battle of Bosworth Field (Bosworth Field, Battle of) (1485); and The Theatre of Apollo (1625), an unperformed court entertainment.

Beaumont was an elder brother of Francis Beaumont (Beaumont, Francis), the dramatist. After studying at Oxford University (1597), he studied law but settled at Grace-Dieu Priory, from 1605, because he was a Roman Catholic recusant. Through court connections he was made a baronet in January 1626.