Beach's political career began in January 1856, when at a meeting chaired in Basingstoke by William Lyde Wiggett Chute, it was decided that he was the desired candidate to stand in the 1857 general election, succeeding the retiring Charles Shaw-Lefevre.

[1] He was elected Member of Parliament for North Hampshire the following year, alongside George Sclater-Booth.

[3] In the House of Commons, he spoke little (not making his maiden speech until 1860, almost three years after being elected), but did much hard work in committee and was appointed a Privy Councillor in January 1900.

[4] Beach served on the management committee for the Royal Free Hospital, London, from 1858, and the Winchester Diocesan Training School in 1862.

[6] They lived at Oakley Hall, which Beach had inherited following his father's death the previous year.

[5] On the evening of 2 August 1901 Beach was severely injured when the horse of the Hansom cab in which he was riding stumbled onto an unguarded roadworks trench while attempting to avoid a bus on Parliament Street.