Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont (22 October 1833 – 20 August 1899) was a British Army officer and politician.

While in the post he worked on methods for generating hydrogen 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.

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 two Liberal Members of Parliament for South Durham, a seat he held until 1880.