Beamish, Francis Bernard (1802–68), politician and brewer, was born 5 April 1802, eighth son among twelve children of William Beamish (qv), founder of the Beamish & Crawford porter brewery, and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Delacour of Mallow, treasurer of Co. Cork. Francis was educated at Rugby school, and became a freeman of Cork in 1827. On his father's death (1828), he and four brothers became partners in Beamish & Crawford, a position he held until 1849, when the two eldest brothers took over the business. Politically liberal, he was one of the few Cork protestants who openly supported O'Connell (qv) in the 1820s and ’30s, and was a leading figure in the Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty, a pro-catholic emancipation group founded in Cork in 1829. However, he did not support repeal, believing that catholics should concentrate on securing more limited reforms. Though he was chosen as an O'Connellite parliamentary candidate in 1837, this was on the understanding that he would abstain on repeal while supporting issues such as municipal and tithe reform. He became liberal MP for Cork city (1837–41, 1853–65). A poor speaker, he seldom spoke in the house of commons, but he was an industrious worker in committee, and was regarded as an authority on commercial matters. In 1841, recognising the huge ground swell of popular support for repeal, he did not stand for parliament. He was particularly committed to the reform of Cork corporation, which he regarded as sectarian, inefficient, and financially corrupt. In 1841, after the passing of the municipal reform act, Beamish topped the poll in the city's most tory ward, yet he insisted that his opponent, a catholic, should be the first mayor of Cork under the reformed system. Beamish's moderation and sincerity were admired by political opponents and allies alike, and in 1842 he became mayor of Cork himself. In the 1850s he supported the tenant right movement.
He resided at Grenville House, Cork, and was JP, DL, and high sheriff of Co. Cork (1852), and a director of Great Southern & Western Railways; his portrait, by James Butler (1825–89), hung in the reading room of Cork's Commercial Buildings. He died 1 February 1868 at Totnes, Devon, where he had moved because of illness.
He married (3 May 1837) Catherine Savery de Lisle de Courcy (d. 1872), daughter of Capt. Michael de Courcy, RN, and sister of John Stapleton, 28th Lord Kingsale; they had one son, Francis Bernard Servington Beamish (b. 1839), who became a partner in the brewery in 1863.