J M Keynes Life - World of Biography

John Maynard Keynes was born into the family of academicians on June 5, 1883. His father, John Nevile Keynes, was a Cambridge don and an able administrator, proficient in both economics and logic. His mother, Florence Ada Brown, was a remarkable woman, a successful author and a pioneer in social reform.

When asked the meaning of interest to the four and half year old John, he said, " if I let you have a halfpenny and you kept it for a very long time, you would have to give me back that halfpenny and another too. That's interest."

In 1898, Maynard was sent to the Perse School Kindergarten, and in 1892 he joined St. Faith's preparatory school, as a day boy. His early years showed no sings of the infant prodigy. He had fairly good reports and sometimes they contained complaints for his carelessness. He was quick at arithmetic and algebra and possessed a large vocabulary. But on the whole, the progress was normal.

He was frequently affected by cold, coughs, temperatures and headaches. During a year he was away from school for quite some time. There was some frailty of constitution, which continued to give rise to anxiety until he turned 15.

Keynes with his unusual abilities traveled the customary educational route designed for the upper class and upper middle-class child. He was enrolled at Eton, the most prestigious boy's public school in the land. At Eton he found congenial associates, youths of intellectual distinction with whom he could quickly get along on the basis of common interests. They had self-confidence, inquisitive minds and a gay, and carefree outlook. His own great fund of gaiety, of fun and satire, found scope. He needed this environment and that in his school days his imagination was already stimulated and taking wings. Here he topped the class and for the first time received a prize for mathematics in 1894 and retained this position till he left Eton. Thus, Eton gave him the confidence and poise to match his zest for knowledge. Initially his interests were diverse. He was into classics, history, and above all mathematics. In 1901, he stood first in the class for an English essay, and from then onwards his essays on varied themes like Bernard of Clony, the character of the Stuart Monarchs; and the difference between East and West won numerous prizes.