John Maynard Keynes

Early Years

John Maynard Keynes was born on June 5, 1883. His father was John Neville Keynes, son of John Keynes, a self-made man who had turned a brush-making enterprise into a prosperous manufacturing business and then made a fortune in flowers. Neville was an only son by his father’s second wife – the first having succumbed to cholera. He entered Cambridge in 1872 on a mathematical scholarship, though he eventually moved to moral sciences. In 1875, he was first in his class. Neville studied economics and later wrote two books on the subject. He lectured at several colleges, including the women’s residence halls at Cambridge, which had only recently begun admitting women. While lecturing, Neville met Florence Ada Brown, daughter of a scholarly nonconformist clergyman. They married in 1882.

John Maynard was their first child. His sister Margaret was born in 1885, his brother Geoffrey in 1887. The parents favored John, perhaps inordinately. (This disparity took a toll on Geoffrey, who achieved great success as a surgeon, but nonetheless felt pained by this well into adulthood.) While still a child, John Maynard participated in discussions with his father’s learned...