Louis Keene

Louis Keene was a British-born painter and writer who spent his youth in South Africa and much of his life in Canada. Available biographical sources describe him as born in Hendon, London, in 1888, later studying art in London, and building a life that moved between the worlds of art and military service.

He is best known in books for "Crumps", The Plain Story of a Canadian Who Went, a World War I memoir based on his service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The book stands out for its direct, personal voice and for the perspective of a trained artist recording the realities of war.

Other sources also describe Keene as an accomplished painter whose wartime artwork and long military career extended beyond the page. He died in 1972.