Keynes, Geoffrey, 1887-1982

Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes was born on March 25, 1887, in Cambridge, England.

He was a British surgeon, medical historian, humanist, and author. He graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge (B.A., 1909; M.A., 1913) and the Royal College of Surgeons in London (M.D., 1918). He served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I and then worked as a consultant surgeon, becoming an expert in blood transfusion. He co-founded the London blood transfusion service with P. L. Oliver in 1921, and his book “Blood Transfusion” (1922) was the first textbook on the subject published in Great Britain. Keynes enlisted to be a consulting surgeon to the Royal Air Force during World War II. In 1944, he was promoted to the rank of acting air vice-marshal. He was a pioneer in the surgery of breast cancer, advocating for limited surgery followed by radiation therapy instead of the invasive radical mastectomy. He maintained a passionate interest in English literature. Keynes was a leading authority on the literary and artistic work of William Blake and produced biographies and bibliographies of many English writers. He also collected books, with a personal library of around four thousand books. His autobiography, “The Gates of Memory,” was published in 1981. In 1955, Keynes received a knighthood for services to medicine.

In 1917, he married Margaret Darwin (1890–1974), granddaughter of Charles Darwin. He died on July 5, 1982, in Cambridge, England.