Florence Ada Keynes (''née'' Brown; 10 March 1861 – 13 February 1958) was an English author, historian and politician.

Career

Keynes was an early graduate of

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

where her contemporaries included the economist Mary Marshall. She subsequently became involved in local charitable work, establishing an early juvenile

labour exchange A public employment service is a government's organization which matches employers to employees. History One of the oldest references to a public employment agency was in 1650, when Henry Robinson proposed an "Office of Addresses and Encounters" ...

, and was one of the founders of the Papworth Village Settlement for sufferers of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, a forerunner of

Papworth Hospital Royal Papworth Hospital is a specialist heart and lung hospital, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridgeshire, England. The Hospital is run by Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital is a world-leading cardio ...

. She was secretary of the local

Charity Organisation Society The Charity Organisation Societies were founded in England in 1869 following the ' Goschen Minute' that sought to severely restrict outdoor relief distributed by the Poor Law Guardians along the lines of the Elberfeld system. In the early 1870s, ...

, which provided

pensions A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

for the elderly living in poverty, and worked with inmates of

workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

s to resettle them into society. She encouraged women students to enter charitable work, including

Eglantyne Jebb Eglantyne Jebb (25 August 1876 – 17 December 1928) was a British social reformer who founded the Save the Children organisation at the end of World War I to relieve the effects of famine in Austria-Hungary and Germany. She drafted the docu ...

who was introduced to her by

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

; Jebb subsequently founded

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

Cambridge Borough Council

She was the first female

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Cambridge City Council Cambridge City Council is the local authority for Cambridge, a non-metropolitan district with city status in the United Kingdom, city status in Cambridgeshire, England. The council has been under Labour Party (UK), Labour majority control since ...

in August 1914, and was also a town

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

. At 70 years of age, Keynes became Mayor of Cambridge on 9 November 1932, the second woman to hold the office. She chaired the committee responsible for the building of the new

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

, which was completed in 1939.

Works

Retiring from public duties in 1939, she wrote a history of Cambridge, ''By-Ways of Cambridge History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1947). In 1950, she published a memoir, ''Gathering up the threads'' (W Heffer & Son Ltd, 1950), in which she discusses her ancestors along with the childhoods of her children John Maynard, Margaret and Geoffrey.

Family

Keynes was the daughter of Rev.

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

of Bunyan's Chapel,

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, and schoolteacher Ada Haydon, ''née'' Ford (1837–1929). Her brother Sir Walter Langdon-Brown was the Regius Professor of Physic (medicine) at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. She married the economist

John Neville Keynes John Neville Keynes ( ; 31 August 1852 – 15 November 1949) was a British economist and father of John Maynard Keynes. Biography Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Keynes was the child of John Keynes (1805–1878) and his wife Anna Maynard Neville ...

in 1882. They had a daughter and two sons: *

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...

(1883–1946), the economist and public servant * Margaret Neville Hill (1885–1970), who in 1913 married

Archibald Hill Archibald Vivian Hill (26 September 1886 – 3 June 1977), better known to friends and colleagues as A. V. Hill, was a British physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research. He shared the 192 ...

, winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology * Geoffrey Langdon Keynes (1887–1982), a surgeon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keynes, Florence Ada 1861 births 1958 deaths 20th-century English women writers Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge English women historians Councillors in Cambridgeshire

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Mayors of Cambridge English social reformers Women mayors of places in England Presidents of the National Council of Women of Great Britain Women councillors in England 20th-century English historians 20th-century English journalists

Career

Cambridge Borough Council

Works

Family

See also

References