William Beach (6 September 1850 – 28 January 1935) was a professional Australian sculler. He was unbeaten as World Sculling Champion from 1884 to 1887. Beach was born in Chertsey, Surrey, England, to Alexander Beach, blacksmith, and his wife Mary, née Gibbons. Beach's family migrated to New South Wales while he was a small child and he lived at Dapto for most of his life, learning to row on Lake Illawarra. He began his sporting career in a wooden tub on the Macquarie Rivulet and ended it as champion sculler of the world.