Helen Mary Keynes (1892 – 26 August 1975) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

political activist and author. Keynes wrote from an early age. Her first

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, ''The Spanish Marriage'', was written before she turned twenty. She was also a supporter of the Labour Party. By the late 1920s, she served on the executive of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

, chaired the Fabian Women's Group, and also served on the executive of the Rural Reconstruction Association. Keynes stood for Parliament at the 1928 Epsom by-election, taking third place with 16.8% of the vote. She stood again in Horsham and Worthing at the

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

and 1931 general elections, taking third place on each occasion, and finally in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

at the 1935 general election, where she again came third. Alongside these candidacies, she served as secretary of the Society of Labour Candidates, which helped candidates network and share ideas. Keynes continued to write during the 1930s and 1940s, her works including ''Murder In Rosemary Lane'', and ''Salute To The Brave'' (under the pseudonym "Clementine Hunter").

References

1892 births 1975 deaths English women novelists Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Members of the Fabian Society 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers {{UK-writer-stub