Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) was an English dramatist and theatrical manager. His father, John Beaumont, was a successful lawyer; his mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Francis Beaumont's family lived in the parish of St. Marylebone in London
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He spent his boyhood in the neighborhood, and it is believed that he attended Westminster school. His father died in 1592 when Francis was eight years old. Shortly thereafter the family moved to the hamlet of Easton Maudit, where Francis continued his schooling at The King's School in Canterbury.
Francis Beaumont wrote plays for The King's Men, a troupe that included Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker among others.
He also wrote successfully in the genres of history and tragedy. The first play he wrote alone was The Changeling (1593). His other plays include A Wife for a Month (1594), The Changeling (1594), Francis Beaumont plays (1596), Timon of Athens (1597), The Changeling (1597), Hamlet (1600), The Man of Mode (1601), Wit at Several Weapons (1602), Henry V, or the Battle of Agincourt (1608), The Lady of Pleasure (1613), Love's Sacrifice (1614), The Broken Heart (c.
1614) and Love's Labor's Lost (c. 1614).
Francis Beaumont married Anne Jones in 1598; she bore him two children: Susanna and Charles. They separated after 1603 and never divorced although they were separated for most of their marriage.
Henry Porter married Anne on June 5, 1607; she bore him no children but had many secret lovers before her death on February 28, 1626. Francis Beaumont died on November 12, 1616 at age thirty-three while serving as Seneschal of Normandy for James I during the French Wars of Religion; he is buried at Easton Maudit churchyard near his birthplace in London.
