Derek Keene

Born on 27 December 1942, Derek John Keene is the son of Charles Henry Keene and his wife Edith Anne (née Swanston). After attending Ealing Grammar School, he was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies; his DPhil was awarded in 1972 for his thesis "Some aspects of the history, topography and archaeology of the north eastern part of the medieval city of Winchester with special reference to the Brooks area".[1][2] In 1968, Keene became a researcher at the Winchester Research Unit, and became its assistant director six years later.[1] In 1979, he joined the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) where he led the Social Science Research Council-funded project "Social and economic survey of medieval London". He then proposed that the IHR establish its own centre dedicated to studying London's history, and this came to fruition in 1987 when the IHR set up the Centre for Metropolitan History with Keene as its first Director.[3] He served in that post until 2001, after which he was appointed Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Metropolitan History at the IHR. After retiring in 2008, he remained associated with the IHR as Emeritus Professor of Metropolitan History and as an honorary fellow.[1][4]

Keene is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.[1] He served as President of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society in 1999–2002. He was the dedicatee of a 2012 festschrift, London and Beyond: Essays in Honour of Derek Keene.[5]

• (Co-authored with M. Burch and P. Treveil) The Development of Early Medieval and Later Poultry and Cheapside: Excavations at 1 Poultry and Vicinity, City of London, Museum of London Archaeology Monograph, no. 38 (Museum of London, 2011).
• (Co-authored with S. Letters, M. Fernandes and O. Myhill) Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516, 2 vols., List and Index Society Special Series, nos. 32–33 (List and Index Society, 2003).
• (Co-authored with B. M. S. Campbell, J. Galloway and M. Murphy) A Medieval Capital and its Grain Supply: Agrarian Production and Distribution in the London Region c. 1300, Historical Geography Research Paper Series, no. 31 (Institute of British Geographers, 1993).
• (Co-authored with V. Harding) Historical Gazetteer of London before the Great Fire: Part 1: Cheapside (Centre for Metropolitan History, 1987).
• Cheapside before the Great Fire (Economic and Social Research Council, 1985).
• (Co-authored with V. Harding) A Survey of Documentary Sources for Property Holding in London before the Great Fire, London Record Society, no. 22 (London Record Society, 1985).
• Survey of Medieval Winchester, 2 vols., Winchester Studies series, no. 2 (Clarendon Press, 1985).
• (Co-authored with F. Barlow, M. Biddle and O. von Feilitzen) Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: an Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, Winchester Studies series, no. 1 (Clarendon Press, 1976).

Keene is married to the academic Suzanne Keene (née Forbes); they have one son and one daughter.[1]

• "Professor Derek Keene: Interview transcript", Making History (Institute of Historical Research, 1 August 2008).