In 1697, he killed fellow official Samuel Lewis and fled to France; thanks to the effort of his father, the case was declared nolle prosequi and Beckford returned to Jamaica and entered into a political career, serving as the colonial assembly's speaker and politician William Congreve's deputy.

Beckford frequently came into conflict with successive governors of Jamaica, including Thomas Handasyd, Lord Archibald Hamilton and Sir Nicholas Lawes.

By the end of his life, Beckford acquired an estate worth approximately £300,000 (equivalent to $60,000,000 in 2023), which included 2,314 slaves, and was the richest subject in Jamaica and one of the wealthiest people in the British Empire.

[1] His father, also named Peter Beckford, was born in Clerkenwell, England before emigrating to Jamaica during the mid-seventeenth century, where he amassed a substantial fortune through the ownership of twenty sugar plantations operated with roughly 1,200 enslaved people.

[1][7][a] Much like his father, Beckford "possessed a violent temper"; on 13 December 1697, he killed fellow politician Samuel Lewis by stabbing him to death with his own sword.

[8][9] Though no pardon was granted, due in part to fierce opposition from Lewis' relatives, after Beckford's father went to London to defend him in 1698 the case was declared nolle prosequi.

Five years later, he began serving as a deputy to Whig politician William Congreve, assuming the offices of secretary of Jamaica, commissary of the forces and clerk of enrolments.

[1][12] As part of his political career, Beckford frequently came into conflict with successive governors of Jamaica, among them Thomas Handasyd, Lord Archibald Hamilton and Sir Nicholas Lawes.

[1][11] Beckford held a particularly bitter relationship with Hamilton; both men leveraged their influence in London as part of attempts to resolve several political disputes, which "[promoted] metropolitan interest in colonial affairs, especially in the wake of the Peace of Utrecht".

[13] From 1714 to 1716, a pamphlet war broke out after Hamilton accused Beckford of profiteering from his position as comptroller of customs and claimed that his relatives were also engaged in acts of corruption.

[1] He also stipulated in his will that an annual sum of money be provided to a white bookkeeper that had been employed by Beckford, and instructed that Diego, a slave he owned, be emancipated and given 10 pounds per annum along with 10 acres of land.

[21] While living in England at a young age, Beckford had been educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and the University of Oxford's New College between 1681 and 1689, the advantages of which he recognised after returning to Jamaica.

"[1] Historians have generally maintained a positive view of Beckford; according to academic Sidney Blackmore, he increased his family's wealth "on the firm foundations laid by the founding father.