Beuth was born in
Cleves; his father was an artist. He entered the
University of Halle in 1798 to study law and
cameralism. In 1799 he became a member of the
Corps Guestphalia Halle. He entered the Prussian civil service in 1801, becoming
Assessor in
Bayreuth in 1806, followed in 1809 by a position in
Potsdam and in 1810 at the head of the taxation section of the finance ministry in Berlin. In 1813/14 he was a member of the
Lützow Free Corps and fought in the
liberation campaign against
Napoleon; he was awarded the
Iron Cross 2nd class. Beuth was a member of the
Deutsche Tischgesellschaft, founded in Berlin in 1811 by
Achim von Arnim and
Adam Heinrich Müller. This was an
antisemitic organisation, and he expressed disapproval of equality under the law for Jews. In his position in the finance ministry, Beuth was a member of the commission for the reform of taxation and manufacturing in the office of the Chancellor
Karl August von Hardenberg; after the end of the
Napoleonic Wars he participated in drafting the new tax laws of 1817. In 1821 he was promoted to
Staatsrat, and in 1830 he became director of the Department of Manufacturing, Trade and Construction, a position he held until 1845. He left the ministry in autumn 1845 with the rank of
Wirklicher Geheimer Rat (full privy councillor), but remained a member of the council of state. He died in Berlin in 1853 and is buried in the
Dorotheenstadt cemetery near his friend
Karl Friedrich Schinkel. His grave is recognised as an
honorary grave of the City of Berlin and was designed by
Reinhold Begas. ==See also==