John Maynard Keynes Blue Plaque

About This Blue Plaque

John Maynard Keynes was one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. Born in Cambridge in 1883, Keynes attended Eton College and later studied mathematics at King’s College, Cambridge. After a brief stint in the India Office, he returned to Cambridge as a lecturer in economics.

During World War I, Keynes worked for the Treasury, playing a key role in negotiating financial terms with the Allies. He was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, but resigned in protest of the harsh reparations imposed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. He expressed his views in the famous book “The Economic Consequences of the Peace.”

Keynes is best known for his groundbreaking work in macroeconomics. In response to the Great Depression, he advocated for increased government spending and lower taxes to stimulate demand, challenging classical economic theories. His ideas, known as “Keynesian economics,” fundamentally shaped modern macroeconomic theory and policy.

From 1916 until his death in 1946, Keynes resided at 46 Gordon Square in London’s Bloomsbury neighborhood. The area was a hub for the influential Bloomsbury Group, an intellectual circle that included writers, artists, and thinkers like Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster. Keynes was a central figure in this group.

Gordon Square is located in the London Borough of Camden, known for its vibrant arts and culture scene, as well as its intellectual history. The Bloomsbury area in particular has been associated with literature, education, and medicine, home to institutions like the University of London and the British Museum. The blue plaque at 46 Gordon Square, erected in 1975, commemorates the profound impact Keynes had on modern economics and his enduring legacy in the field.