Walter Keohler Beckett (27 July 1914 – 3 April 1996) was an Irish composer, teacher and music critic.
In 1963 he moved to England, where he taught music at various schools before returning to Ireland in 1970 to succeed A.J.
Potter at the RIAM as a professor of harmony and counterpoint; however, after having suffered a stroke in 1985, he had to retire.
In the 1980s he produced a number of remarkable works such as the Quartet for Strings (1980) and Dublin Symphony (1989) for narrator, chamber choir and large orchestra.
Besides his activity as a music critic for the Irish Times, Beckett also wrote biographical articles for dictionaries, in particular for the first edition of Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.