ECONOMISTS' PAPERS
Series Two: The Papers of John Neville Keynes, 1864-1917, from Cambridge University Library

Publisher's Note

"An excellent project… These diaries provide valuable material for a large group of historical researchers in such fields as the history of economic thought, social and domestic history, Victorian reading habits, university administration and biography."

Rita McWilliams Tullberg
University of Cambridge
Consultant Editor

John Neville Keynes (1852-1949), the father of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), was an important economist in his own right and a dominant figure in Cambridge intellectual life between 1876 and 1925.

His unpublished diaries – spanning from his observations as a 12 year old boy in 1864, through his academic career to his 65th birthday in 1917 – are an important source of evidence for a wide variety of historians.

For economic historians they document the development of his own economic theories. His influential methodological work The Scope and Method of Political Economy was published in 1891 and there are many comments on the critical reception of this and of his theories in general.

For social historians they document the life of a middle-class, Victorian, family man who recorded in his diary the successes of his children (especially Maynard whose schoolboy letters he copied into his diary), the illnesses of relatives and friends, the many novels which he read, trouble with servants, details of holidays, national and local events.

His wife, Florence, also figures largely in the diary. It records her involvement in local public life (she was an active member of the local branch of the Charity Organisation Society and became Mayor of Cambridge) and their joint interest in the promotion of women's education in Cambridge.

Cambridge Intellectual Life is also well documented, seen from John Neville Keynes' varying perspectives as an Undergraduate and then Fellow at Pembroke College; as a teacher for the Moral Science Tripos; as Secretary for Local Examinations; and as Registrar. He was also a close colleague of two of the most important Cambridge academics in the second half of the Nineteenth Century – Henry Sidgwick and Alfred Marshall – both of whom are mentioned frequently.

Clearly written in a neat hand the diaries can be used with ease by undergraduates preparing long essays. There is one small break – for the years 1865-1868 – otherwise they run in an unbroken sequence.

The diaries were used by Robert Skidelsky in the first part of his biography of John Maynard Keynes and provide a unique insight into his intellectual development and subsequent career. This comprehensive microfilm edition goes well beyond the scope of any proposed printed selection.

We would like to thank the University Library, Cambridge, and the heirs of John Neville Keynes for their kind permission to reproduce these previously unpublished manuscript diaries.

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